Texas Excessive Force Claim

In an April 22, 2009 U. S. Department of Justice (”DOJ”) Press Release, the DOJ announced that a former Bexar County Sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty to a civil rights charge in a San Antonio federal court for using excessive force while working as a detention officer at the county jail.  According to court documents cited by the Press Release, the former deputy acknowledged that he willfully used more force than was necessary when he responded to noisy prisoners inside of a locked holding cell by entering the cell and striking a pretrial detainee.  See, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/2009/April/09-crt-380.html .  As stated in the DOJ Press Release, the prisoner sustained injuries to his head that necessitated medical treatment as a result of the assault.  By pleading guilty, the former deputy acknowledged that he deprived the prisoner of his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process, which includes the right to be free from the use of excessive force by a law enforcement officer.  An attorney was quoted in the Press Release as saying that “Law enforcement officers take an oath to uphold the law, not to violate it, as this officer did when he abused his authority over a man in his custody.”

Whether law enforcement abuse of authority occurs in Corpus Christi, Houston, San Antonio or elsewhere in Texas, police misconduct victims may report civil rights violations to the DOJ and an officer’s employer, as well as an attorney or lawyer to determine if an excessive force charge or lawsuit may ultimately be appropriate under the particular facts and circumstances of the potential police authority abuse claim.