Police: Video shows officer’s response to teen was justifiable
Huey’s mother alleges officer used excessive force, causing her son to lose vision in left eye
Texarkana, Texas, police allege a local teen was resisting arrest and grabbing an officer’s duty belt when his eye was injured by a pepper spray gun, according to a response filed Friday in a civil suit pending in a Texarkana federal court.
According to the court filing, body and dash camera videos show DaQuan Huey, 17, carrying a baseball bat, hurling epithets, fighting with a woman and resisting arrest in the moments before he was struck in the face with the full force of pepper spray gel following deployment of a JPX gun.
Huey’s mother, Miracle Farr, filed a complaint against the the city of Texarkana, Texas, and Officer Scott Lillis in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas about a week after Huey claims he lost vision in his left eye because of excessive use of force.
Lee Merritt, a Philadelphiabased lawyer representing Huey, could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.
The defense response, filed Friday by Texarkana lawyer Robert Weber, alleges Huey’s conduct is to blame and that video evidence supports their position. Weber could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.
Police were called to the Brookwood Drive area about 12:30 p.m. Jan. 27 with reports of large crowds fighting in the streets, according to the response.
Huey claims he was trying to quell a disturbance, that
he had taken the bat from another person and that Lillis’ deployment of the JPX gun amounts to misconduct.
TTPD alleges Huey did not drop a bat he was carrying until twice ordered to do so by TTPD Officer Clint Akin and that after dropping the bat he used “epithets.”
The response alleges that as Lillis approached, Huey was facing a woman in a “boxing stance” and that he struggled with Lillis when Lillis attempted to end the confrontation between Huey and the woman.
The response alleges that Lillis positioned himself next to Huey as he pointed the JPX gun at the woman and ordered her to back up, which she did. Huey allegedly looked directly at Lillis and knew a police officer was approaching, according to the city’s response. The complaint alleges Huey did not know who approached him.
“To control and detain Huey, Officer Lillis placed his left hand and arm on the shoulder and back of neck of Huey but at no time did Lillis choke Huey,” the response states. “Huey immediately resisted by pushing and pulling on Officer Lillis’s hips and grabbing and holding Lillis’s duty belt which held his radio, baton and service pistol. Officer Lillis was still holding the JPX in his right hand and tried to clasp his hands together to have a stronger position to force Huey down to the ground to gain control, stop Huey’s resistance and detain him. However, Lillis’s right hand never securely grasped Huey’s head.”
The response alleges that as Lillis struggled with Huey they moved across an inclined lawn placing Huey above Lillis, who worried he might fall.
“Lillis deployed one round of JPX gel just as Huey moved his upper body and head downwards. At no time did Lillis aim for or place the JPX directly at or on Huey’s head,” the response states.
“Lillis justifiably used a non-lethal response to resistance or aggression by Huey. An objectively reasonably officer, on the scene, under the same or similar circumstances, would have deemed Lillis’s conduct an appropriate use of non-lethal force,” according to the response.
The response states that less than four seconds passed from the time Lillis placed his hand on Huey’s shoulder to the time the pepper spray was deployed. Huey’s federal case against Lillis and the City of Texarkana, Texas, is currently pending before U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III and U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven. No hearings are currently set.
In another matter, Huey is expected to appear in Texas state court later this week to address a firearm theft charge. Huey was arrested by Texarkana, Texas, police in October after a pat down allegedly revealed he had two pistols in his pants, one of which had been reported stolen by a retired Texarkana, Texas, detective. Huey pleaded guilty to the charge at a hearing two days before he was struck with the pepper spray but his plea was withdrawn after 5th District Judge Bill Miller refused last month to approve a plea which included deferred adjudication probation.
The state has amended the plea offer to include standard probation. Deferred adjudication might have allowed Huey to avoid a final felony conviction had he successfully completed probation. Theft of a firearm is a state jail felony punishable by six months to two years, if convicted.