Galveston man arrested, led on rope files suit
A Galveston man whose arrest by two mounted police officers attracted national attention is suing the city and its police department for $1 million.
In a lawsuit filed in Galveston County court, Donald Neely, 44, is claiming emotional distress, malicious prosecution, and negligence after his viral arrest in August 2019 for trespassing.
Neely, a mentally ill man who was living on the streets of Galveston, was arrested in the city’s downtown by two mounted Galveston officers who clipped a rope line to his handcuffs and led him for several blocks in public view — evoking comparisons to the slavery era and drawing national outrage. Neely is black and the officers are white.
Neely was not lucid at the time. He had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, had lived on Galveston streets since 2016 and had repeatedly resisted his family’s efforts to bring him home.
The lawsuit, filed by Julie
Ketterman, a Houstonbased attorney, states that the arresting officers “knew or should have believed that Neely – being a black man – being led with a rope and by mounted officers down a city street as though he was a slave, would find this contact offensive.” The lawsuit demands a jury trial for Neely
ody camera footage of the arrest revealed that the arresting officers knew the manner of the arrest would draw criticism.
“This is gonna look really bad,” Officer Patrick Brosch said after his partner, Amanda Smith, clipped the rope line to Donald Neely’s cuffs.
Neely, who eventually moved in with his sister and received medical attention, told the Houston Chronicle last year that he “felt embarrassed” after learning his image was seen by millions.
“It came back and hurt me because I did not know I was getting video-recorded by the public,” Neely said.
The city of Galveston did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.