HOUSTON (CN) — Two Houston cops were found liable late Tuesday by a federal jury for excessive force and assault for injuring a Hispanic man during a March 2017 traffic stop and they were ordered to pay him more than $1 million in damages.
With Houston police officers Jacob Simmerman and Christopher Heaven stopped behind him in their cruisers in the left-turn lane at a red light on March 29, 2017, Jose Gomez did not immediately pull his pickup truck forward when the light turned green.
As recounted in the case record, Simmerman honked his horn at Gomez and Gomez turned into the far right-hand lane to let the police go by. But they pulled him over for making an illegal turn.
The officers ordered Gomez, now 44, out of his vehicle after he said he did not have his driver’s license. The arrest was recorded by their body cameras.
As Simmerman handcuffed Gomez, Heaven grabbed his arm and said, “Don’t tense up on me, motherfucker. Don’t you tense up on me.” Simmerman then wrestled Gomez face-first to the ground and he and Heaven forced Gomez’s arms behind his back.
The video recorded Gomez screaming in pain as the officers handcuffed him while ordering him to stop resisting. Gomez repeatedly said, “I don’t do anything man, why do you do that to me? Why do you do that?”
The arrest left Gomez with torn ligaments in his shoulder, bruises on his face from the pavement and back injuries. Shortly after the arrest, he filed a complaint with HPD’s Internal Affairs Division.
Prosecutors charged him with resisting arrest based on the officers’ arrest reports, but dropped the charge a few months later.
Gomez filed a federal lawsuit against Simmerman, Heaven and the city of Houston in April 2018, asserting civil rights claims of excessive force, false arrest, malicious prosecution and municipal liability, plus a state law claim of assault and battery.
U.S. District Judge George Hanks, a Barack Obama appointee, dismissed the municipal liability claim against the city in February, finding Gomez could not prove that HPD’s decision not to discipline Simmerman and Heaven reflected a policy of HPD internal affairs tilting its investigations in favor of exonerating police for misconduct.
But Hanks refused to dismiss all of Gomez’s claims against Simmerman and Heaven. He did not buy their argument that Gomez, a father of five girls, could not prove he was injured by them roughing him up during the traffic stop, as opposed to his more than 20 years working as a furniture mover.
Following an eight-day trial, a jury late Tuesday found Simmerman 65% liable for Gomez’s injuries and Heaven 35% liable, and ordered them to pay Gomez $550,000 for assault and $550,000 for excessive force.
The officers were represented by the city of Houston’s legal department.
Houston City Attorney Arturo Michel said in a statement he disagrees with the verdict.
“The Houston Police Department Internal Affairs Division fully investigated this incident and found both officers to have acted within policy at the time and acted as reasonable prudent officers. The testimony and evidence established that. Unfortunately, the jury disagreed. We respect the process, but the City disagrees with the verdict,” he said.
He indicated the city plans to appeal: “The City of Houston is liable for only $100,00, and assuming the full award is upheld, the individual defendants would pay the balance subject to having collectible assets.”
Gomez was represented by Houston attorneys Alexander Johnson, Randall Kallinen and Mike DeGeurin Sr.
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