Man accuses New Braunfels cop of excessive force in suit
A New Braunfels man has filed a civil lawsuit against the city, a former police chief and a former police officer, alleging excessive force and an unlawful arrest that was racially motivated.
According to the lawsuit, Clarence Walter Crawford Jr., who is Black, suffered embarrassment and mental anguish after an officer forcibly removed him from his car and used a stun gun on him over a minor traffic infraction in January 2020.
Crawford, who said he lost his job after the incident, is seeking compensation for damages, attorney’s fees and other costs of the suit. A jury will decide on the amount of financial compensation should
Crawford win. He is being represented by attorney Paul Vick.
The incident began when Kaleb Meyer, a former New Braunfels Police Department officer, pulled over Crawford because of a dirty license plate. During the stop, Meyer is seen on body cam footage — which wasn’t released by NBPD until November — pulling Crawford from his car and using a stun gun on him while he was on the ground.
Comal County Criminal District Attorney Jennifer Tharpe said Meyer’s actions of pointing his gun at Crawford during a misdemeanor traffic stop and subsequently using his stun gun on the non-resisting man was outside the purview of appropriate use of force in the incident, according to court records.
It took nearly nine months before Crawford’s charges were dropped.
The police department did not open an internal investigation, and Meyer was given the option to resign in September. City Manager Robert Camareno said the incident was one of the reasons the department’s police chief, Tom Wilbert, retired in September.
“NBPD’S reckless failure to formally address Defendant Meyer’s conduct risks other jurisdictions hiring him without knowledge of his history of racial animus, racial profiling, and dangerous and reckless conduct on the job,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also accuses Wilbert and the city of not providing adequate training and supervision and ignoring racial profiling complaints against its officers.