Outcome: Settled 1.18M – See Details on More Law

AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) — Austin police arrested a church pastor and his twin brother Tuesday, alleging they used a tree branch to beat unconscious an 11-year-old who misbehaved in Bible class.

Joshua Thompson, 22, a pastor at Capitol City Baptist Church, and his brother Caleb turned themselves in Tuesday and were released on $25,000 bond, KEYE-TV reported. They were charged with injury to a child, a felony punishable by up to life in prison, the station reported.

The alleged beating took place July 3, according to reports. The brothers thought the boy did not take his Bible verses seriously enough during a church-sponsored summer camp for Spanish-speaking students, officials said.

The alleged abuse took place at a private home, said Bobby Taylor, the child’s attorney. “They … cut a branch off a tree, made my client lay on the bed, and beat him,” Taylor said.

Court records obtained by Reuters alleged that the beating lasted for 90 minutes, broke blood vessels and caused the boy’s kidneys to fail. The brothers allowed the child to take a break in the restroom during the reported beating, documents said.

Joshua Thompson beat the child while Caleb Thompson held him down, Reuters reported, citing court records. They reportedly turned up a radio to drown out the child’s cries, the news service reported.

Afterward, the two took the boy back to his home, where Joshua Thompson told the parents the child needed further discipline, the AP reported.

After the Thompsons left, the boy’s parents discovered bruises and cuts covering his entire back, as well as bruises on his neck, buttocks and legs, AP reported. They called police and took their son to a hospital, where he remained in fair condition Tuesday, the news service said.

Capitol City Baptist does not support corporal punishment, said Jerald Finney, Joshua Thompson’s lawyer.

Austin AmericanStatesman (TX)  April 25, 1997

Two Georgetown men who accused Georgetown police of violating their civil rights in 1994 won a total of $225,000 from a federal jury Thursday in Austin, according to their attorney, Bobby Taylor.  Ernest Lee Perry, 54, and James Scott Clark, 43, alleged in their lawsuits that Georgetown police unfairly arrested them and that Clark was unfairly struck by an officer.

According to police reports, the two men and Georgetown officers Pat Hurley and Fred Pitcher got into an argument after Clark’s wife, Brenda, was stopped allegedly for not wearing a seat belt on Feb. 22, 1994. Perry sued the Police Department in 1994. Clark filed his lawsuit in 1996.  The officers are white. Perry and the Clarks are black.

On Thursday, after a four day trial before U.S. Magistrate Alan Albright, a seven person jury found the arrest and the striking of Clark were violations of civil rights and voted unanimously to award $75,000 to Perry and $150,000 to Clark, Taylor said.

“We respect the system and the decision of the jury,” Georgetown City Manager Bob Hart said Thursday.  Hart said an internal investigation following the incident concluded that the two officers had acted within the scope of their duties. Hurley remains on the force. Pitcher resigned in October to join the Williamson County sheriff’s
department, Hart said.

He said any formal action by the city, including a possible appeal, would be discussed by City Council members and the city’s attorneys at their next regular meeting, May 13.
Taylor said the amount was exactly what his clients had asked from the court.  “These people have been living with this for three years, and they knethey were right,” Taylor said.  “I feel good about this.” Perry said he’s relieved the lawsuit is over.

“I feel good about it in so many ways,” said Perry, who owns Perry’s Garage in Georgetown.  “I hope it sends the message that the police need to do people better.
“You try to say something to them and nobody listens,” Perry said. “They treat you like a kid and you’re supposed to shut up. . . .  It was like they said I was doing something really wrong, but I was only trying to keep them from hurting a friend of mine.

“I’m not really going to celebrate or anything like that,” he said. “I won something that I went up against and I’m just proud of that.”
Copyright (c) 1997 Austin AmericanStatesman

Jim Phillips AUSTIN AMERICANSTATESMAN

DATE: August 6, 1993
PUBLICATION: Austin AmericanStatesman
EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: NEWS
PAGE: A1
The City of Taylor discriminated against minorities in the enforcement of a curfew that was declared unconstitutional, a federal jury ruled Thursday.  The jury found that two of three plaintiffs were discriminated against by police “by reason of race.” The plaintiffs are black.

Elizabeth Stinson, a 42 year old Austin woman who was arrested under the curfew and brought the lawsuit, said, “I had the feeling that I had been violated, and to have the court justify that, I’m pleased with the result.”

The curfew banned use of public property such as city sidewalks and streets after 11 p.m. City and community leaders indicated after the verdict that the enforcement
of the curfew ordinance against minorities was an unfortunate chapter that they wanted to leave in the past.

Bobby Taylor of Austin, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said, “This proves the city fathers and city government and city police were discriminating. I hope and
pray they will stop the discrimination in other areas. Now people are going to stand up and demand what they’re entitled to.

“None of these people were in it for the money,” Taylor said.”They wanted to show they have rights.”  Taylor had argued that the city selectively enforced the curfew against
blacks who frequented a strip of nightclubs known as “the line.” An officer testified that police routinely “cleared the line” late at night.  Of 79 people cited under the ordinance in 1991 and 1992, 77 were black or Hispanic. Minorities make up about 45 percent of the city’s population of about 11,000.

The Taylor City Commission repealed the curfew after the lawsuit was filed in September 1992. The commission argued that police did not discriminate but simply enforced the curfew in areas where they had a crime problem. The jury awarded Stinson $12,500, including $10,000 for being arrested under a law that the judge ruled was unconstitutional. The remaining $2,500 was awarded by the jury for the discriminatory acts of the city.  The other plaintiff found to have suffered from discrimination,

Randall Massey of Taylor, received $1,000. Massey received a citation for violating the curfew. His mother, Elizabeth Massey, was the third plaintiff and said she was told several times by police to “move along.” The jury ruled that she had not been discriminated against.

Cathy Kyle, the attorney representing the city, said she was pleased the jury awarded only about half the money the plaintiffs had asked for but said she was disappointed with the decision that the city discriminated against the plaintiffs. Kyle also represents the city’s insurance carrier.  Taylor, who will receive attorney’s fees from the city at a later date, said the plaintiffs “were the first people in the city of Taylor to stand up and say `enough.’ Everybody in Taylor, black and white, knows there is discrimination.

This put it in the limelight and made everybody look at it and talk about it.  “What I hope will come out of it is other government entities will take a look at their own practices before they have a lawsuit,” he said.

Stinson said minorities in Taylor have felt some relief since the curfew was repealed, “knowing they can go more freely without being stopped,” but both she and Taylor said discrimination remains.  Harold Taylor, pastor of the predominately black.

Copyright,1993,Austin AmericanStatesman