Elderly Texas Man Sues After Officers Allegedly Stormed His Home, Broke His Hip and Left Him Unattended
2015/27/05 – Herman Crisp was just sitting outside, smoking a cigarette, in late September when, he says, Georgetown, Texas, deputies in full SWAT gear approached him with no warning and threw a “flash bang” explosive device at his residence. The explosion, he says, knocked him out of his chair.
Then, the 82-year-old claims, officers slammed him to the ground and handcuffed him with such force that he broke his hip, MyFoxAustin reports. The officers had a search warrant pertaining to Crisp’s nephew, who had been staying with him. They searched the elderly man’s home and took him inside but did not call for aid or assistance. His family says they found him the next day lying in his own feces.
“After they left, I tried to get up then because I had to go to the bathroom and I couldn’t go, so I just crawled over here and laid on the floor right down there, and my sister came and called the paramedics, and they came in here,” Crisp told the news station.
Crisp’s attorney, Boadus Spivey, slammed the sheriff’s department for carrying out a “conspiracy of silence” regarding his client’s case.
“Things like this don’t happen in a vacuum. There’s nothing that we’ve been able to get that identifies the officers, that identifies the action that occurred. We have our client’s information, but I had to hire a professional investigator just to get enough faxed to determine whether I should file a lawsuit or not,” Spivey told the news station. “And I’m convinced that the facts are adequate to file this lawsuit, and we’ll find out now that we have some way to get accurate information.”
According to the news station, the elderly man has had two surgeries and physical therapy but still uses a cane to walk. Crisp is seeking more than $1 million in damages for his medical care and anguish from Williamson County and the city of Georgetown. He accuses officers of using excessive force and causing bodily injury, Raw Story notes.
Raw Story reports that it was not made clear what deputies were searching for in Crisp’s home.
Source: Breanna Edwards
