Jury sides with man who was beaten in 2017 arrest
A federal jury has sided with a Houston man who was beaten during a 2017 arrest involving two Houston Police Department officers, court records show.
The six-member jury unanimously agreed that Christopher Heaven — currently with HPD — and Jacob Simmerman, who left the department in 2017, used excessive force against 44-year-old Jose Gomez during his arrest on a misdemeanor resisting charge.
Simmerman contributed to the bulk of Gomez’s injuries, the jury found. The verdict, decided Tuesday, stemmed from a 2018 civil rights suit that accused the officers of assaulting Gomez and then violating the U.S. Constitution by searching his car.
An internal HPD review previously cleared both officers of having violated department policy.
Prior motions in the federal case removed the city of Houston as a defendant. In a statement, city attorney Arturo Michel noted that the court “found no liability, no failure to train, and no policy subjecting the City to liability in this case.”
“The Houston Police Department Internal Affairs Division fully investigated this incident and found both officers to have acted within policy at the time and acted as reasonable prudent officers,” the statement continued. “The testimony and evidence established that. Unfortunately, the jury disagreed. We respect the process, but the City disagrees with the verdict.”
The arrest followed an allegation that Gomez nearly hit one of their vehicles as he drove home from work the night of March 29, 2017. He is a Three Men Movers employee, records show.
The officers pulled him over and forced him out of the car. They “violently threw him to the ground hitting his face, wrenched his arm, and kneed his back causing extensive damage requiring surgery and physical therapy,” according to court documents.
The arrest left Gomez with torn shoulder ligaments and hurt spinal discs, records continued. The injuries have affected his ability to do his job, civil rights lawyer Randall Kallinen said.
When asked during a news conference Wednesday how the arrest has impacted his life, Gomez simply said “pain.”
“There were people who didn’t believe me, but I always told them what happened was on the video,” Gomez said.
Houston defense lawyer Mike DeGeurin represented Gomez during the Harris County criminal case and throughout the federal lawsuit.
Prosecutors dismissed the misdemeanor charge in July of that year in the “interest of justice” after reviewing profanity-laced body-worn camera footage. Court documents noted, however, that probable cause exists.
The jury also said the officers should be liable and jointly owe him at least $1 million, though Kallinen said that amount is still pending through litigation.
Heaven remains an officer, but Simmerman testified in the federal case that he now sells medical equipment for a living, Kallinen said.
The jury’s verdict follows the recent grand jury indictments against two former HPD officers — one charged with aggravated assault by a public servant and another with criminal negligent homicide in the death of a man.
Former police officer Matthew Valdez went on to work for Harris County Constable’s Office, Precinct 3, after being suspended from HPD for a fatal wreck in which he allegedly failed to turn on his emergency lights and sirens. Authorities also said they believe he was going 90 mph at the time of the crash.
The other officer, Lucas Vieira, shouted at another official to shoot a man who was fleeing them while handcuffed. Body-worn camera footage then showed Vieira hitting the man with handcuffs as he was apprehended.
Houston police officials over the weekend said Vieira was “indefinitely suspended” in April but did not provide comment on the Valdez indictment.