A black man who was led by a rope down a Texas street by two white officers on horseback has sued the city and its police department for US$ 1 million.
Galveston Police apologised last year after footage emerged of Donald Neely, 44, arrested for criminal trespassing.
A lawsuit filed alleged the officers’ conduct was “extreme and outrageous” and caused Mr Neely injury and emotional and mental anguish.
The trespass charges against Mr Neely were later dismissed in court.
Many people on social media compared the footage of Mr Neely to the slavery era, an allusion referenced explicitly in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the officers should have been aware that Mr Neely, “being led with a rope and by mounted officers down a city street as though he was a slave, would find this contact offensive”.
Accusing both the city and the Galveston police department of negligence, the suit says that Mr Neely “suffered from handcuff abrasions, suffered from the heat, and suffered from embarrassment, humiliation and fear”.
New cell phone video shows the controversial trespassing arrest of Donald Neely in Galveston. He’s tied to a rope and led between two horse. It looks like police pull a bag off of his head in this video. A police source told Fox 26 it is a welding mask that belongs to Neely. pic.twitter.com/Jz8wcGLX07
— Ivory Hecker FOX 26 (@IvoryHecker) August 6, 2019