Alief dad: Deputies used excessive force in Taser incident

Khalil El-Amin was praying at home with his two youngest sons on a Saturday afternoon three years ago when two Harris County Sheriff’s deputies knocked on the door responding to a call from the man’s eldest son that his father had been harassing him, saying he was gay.

The details about what took place on Jan. 7, 2017, after the 57year-old Alief father opened the door are in dispute this week in a federal jury trial against the two deputies who made the house call.

El-Amin says the officers failed to explain why they were there and they used excessive force — tasing him twice and dragging him downstairs in handcuffs. A deputy offered a counternarrative on the stand Monday, saying El-Amin refused to respond to basic questions and commands and was “very aggressive” amid a domestic scene that involved “commotion, chaos and yelling.”

The criminal charges against him for assault and resisting arrest were dismissed; what remains is a civil suit. El-Amin is seeking damages against Deputy Oscar Flores, who he says used unreasonable, excessive force, and Officer Megan Herrin, who is charged with failing to intervene to stop Flores from discharging a Taser.

U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. previously dismissed the county and sheriff from liability in the case, saying they were immune because the plaintiff did not show the department had failed to train them regarding use of excessive force.

The arrest took place before patrol deputies in February 2018 began using body cams — a fact that came up repeatedly during the first day of trial.

“Had there been body cams, it would have told us one way or the other what happened,” said Mary Baker, who represents the deputies for the county attorney’s office.

El-Amin’s voice faltered as he testified about his close relationship with his three sons, whom he raised without their mother for most of their early childhood. His eldest, Abdul Rahman, was in 10th grade at the time of their dispute, and Child Protective Services had recently visited to the home, although the agency found no basis for further investigation.

El-Amin said he’d been discussing a school rumor that Abdul Rahman was gay when his teenage son ran and hid in a closet and bumped his head on a trunk. The teen left the apartment and made a police report.

The father told jurors that the officers asked for his account of what happened. He was confused why he would need to tell them anything if they first did not explain his son’s allegations. He said they neither told him why he needed to show an ID nor indicated why they wanted to detain him. Flores never said he would be tased if he didn’t comply, he said.

His younger sons called out, “Leave my poppa alone.” El-Amin said after he was tased twice, officials dragged him down the stairs. He suffered chest pain, shortness of breath and numbness in his hand — as well as a new fear of police — as a result of the incident.

Herrin, one of two deputies at the domestic call, recalled in testimony, “As soon as he opened the door, he was hostile.” She and Flores asked El-Amin more than four times to remove his hands from his pockets. He also declined to produce an ID.

“With these family disturbances, you don’t want to let it go on and on,” Herrin said. “We had an allegation of family assault, and to me (the situation) was not under control — it kept escalating.” She told the jurors El-Amin was tased because he was pulling his arm away and resisting being handcuffed. The deputies’ goal was to ensure the three children were safe, she said, “and he wasn’t letting us.”

The trial is expected to continue through most of the week.