Photo of Galveston arrest stirs outrage
Mounted officers’ ‘poor judgment’ cited for leading black suspect with rope
GALVESTON — The images were jarring, an echo of the darkest chapter of America’s history: two Galveston police officers on horseback leading a handcuffed African American suspect by a blue rope tied to his wrists, marching in full public view.
The cellphone photographs, snapped by a Galveston resident from a moving vehicle Saturday, quickly went viral, prompting a furious reaction on social media from African Americans, civil rights organizations and a presidential candidate. Some said the image carried overtones of slavery, particularly when fugitive slaves were marched publicly back to their owners by rope or chain.
In a news release, Galveston police said the handcuffed man, Donald Neely, 43, was arrested on a misdemeanor criminal trespassing charge. His family’s attorney said Neely is bipolar and has been off medication for four years. He has been living on Galveston streets.
Neely had reportedly been warned several times against trespassing at the location, 306 22nd St., according to the police department’s statement. The officers were leading him to 21st and Market, a couple blocks away, where the mounted patrol unit was staging.
Police Chief Vernon Hale issued a statement Monday after the image circulated on social media,
confirming that horsemounted officers had “clipped” a “line” to Neely’s handcuffs after he was arrested Saturday.
“First and foremost I must apologize to Mr. Neely for this unnecessary embarrassment,” Hale said in the statement. “Although this is a trained technique and best practice in some scenarios, I believe our officers showed poor judgment in this instance and could have waited for a transport unit at the location of the arrest.”
His statement said the officers, identified only as P. Brosch and A. Smith, did not have malicious intent. The department will review its training and procedures for mounted officers, he said.
An attorney for the Neely family, Michelle Morris, called Hale’s apology “inauthentic” and noted that no one from the Galveston Police Department attempted to contact the family.
At a public town hall-style meeting Tuesday night at the Old Central Cultural Center in Galveston packed mostly with black residents, Hale attempted to clarify whether the officers in question committed any misconduct.
Hale, who is black, took full blame for the officers’ actions, even though some in the audience questioned why the officers weren’t there to speak for themselves. Hale explained that the mounted officers were relatively new to the Galveston police force and technically not an official unit, but that he should have made sure “we have proper controls in place,” to prevent an incident like what happened to Neely.
Officers Brosch and Smith were two- and fouryear veterans of the force — Hale did not clarify which officer was more experienced — and that both would remain on active duty.
The chief also appeared to contradict his original statement that the technique employed by the two mounted officers in tying a rope to Neely’s handcuffs was best practice. Hale said experts he consulted concluded that it was a “valid training technique,” but stopped short of saying the Galveston Police Department had trained the officers that way.
“We need to decide what’s best practice, that’s what what we have to review and make sure we have in place — because something works does that mean Galveston has to do it? Absolutely not,” Hale said.
Later in the town hall meeting, a dramatic confrontation occurred when several of Neely’s relatives showed up with Morris and prominent civil rights attorney, Benjamin Crump, famous for representing the family of Michael Brown, a black teenager killed five years ago by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo.
Crump quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — drawing a loud ovation from the crowd — and asked Hale whether he would condemn the actions of the officers.
Hale apologized to the Neely family and promised to set up a meeting to speak with them, but added “there’s not a lot I can say as we look at litigation now.”
Morris said the family is considering filing a lawsuit and wants the department to fire the two officers who arrested Neely. The officers should have tried to get Neely psychiatric help before taking him into custody, Morris said. She also wanted to see body camera footage of the confrontation with Neely and claimed that the officers interrogated him about a dead body while in their custody.
Neely, who has a record of misdemeanor and felony infractions dating to 1994, was freed on bond after his arrest and is back living on the streets of Galveston, Morris said. His relatives, who live in Texas City, were with him for a few hours but he insisted that they let him go back to Galveston. They are trying to find a facility to give Neely the care he needs.
Andy Neely, Donald’s younger brother, said he tried to get him to come home with him two weeks ago but Donald attempted to jump out of the car, forcing him to stop and let him out.
“I don’t want him to come home by force, I want him to come by choice,” Neely said.
The image of Donald Neely bound to two white police officers on horsback stirred outrage on social media, even receiving attention from Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman.
“A black man, dragged with a rope by police officers on horses, in 2019,” O’Rourke tweeted. “This moment demands accountability, justice, and honestly — because we need to call this out for what it is: racism at work.”
Galveston locals noted the shocking optics of the photos of Neely tied to the mounted police officers in a city where the proclamation freeing slaves arrived on June 19, 1865 — a date now celebrated as Juneteenth.
“With the history of slave patrols, mass incarceration, Jim Crow laws, individuals have to understand that this is a very sensitive subject in the African-American community,” said Sam Collins, a local historian.
Leon Phillips, president of the Galveston Coalition for Justice, said the image reminded him of racist images from the 1920s.
“All I know is that these are two white police officers on horseback with a black man walking him down the street with a rope tied to the handcuffs, and that’s doesn’t make sense, period,” Phillips said. “And I do understand this — if it was a white man, I guarantee it wouldn’t have happened.”