Location: Texas
Co-Counsel: Brad Kizzia (Pathlight Legal Corporation); Stephen Dockery (Flood & Flood)
Case Summary
In November 2020, Michael Lewis (67) and Regina Armstead (57) were stopped by five Rosenberg Police Department officers who mistook their vehicle for a group of teenagers that had brandished a gun at several children.
Despite their age, compliance, and obvious confusion, RPD officers aggressively detained Mr. Lewis and Ms. Armstead.
The officers held Mr. Lewis and Ms. Armstead at gunpoint, forced them to the ground, and tightly handcuffed Mr. Lewis even though they knew he was a dialysis patient and could not have anything on his arm.
RPD officers eventually realized the obvious— that Mr. Lewis and Ms. Armstead were not the teenagers that they were searching for.
But not before they terrorized Ms. Armstead and severely injured Mr. Lewis by damaging his dialysis stent.
Mr. Lewis twice tried to meet with RPD leadership, but his requests were ignored. He only decided to file this lawsuit because RPD refused to provide him with an apology and the cost of repairing his key fob that was damaged during the stop.
Mr. Lewis and Ms. Armstead were not the first people to be wrongfully stopped and mistreated by RPD officers. However, we hope our success in this lawsuit will protect others from suffering the same fate.
In the News
- Busted noses, broken devices: Texas police department routinely rough with the medically vulnerable, lawsuit alleges | NBC News
- Black couple suing Houston-area police department for excessive force, illegal search and seizure | Chron
- Texas Residents Sue After Police Allegedly Hold Them At Gunpoint And Break Man’s Dialysis Port | Reason
- Cops Looking for Black Teens Arrested a Black Couple at Gunpoint | VICE News
Case Filing: