Fla. man accuses Houston PD of wrongful arrest

A Florida man is suing over claims he sustained extensive damages after being wrongfully arrested and accused of shoplifting.

Clinton L. Moorman Jr. filed a lawsuit Oct. 20 in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas against the Houston Police Department.

According to the complaint, Moorman was shopping when an officer approached him, accused him of shoplifting, told him he was under arrest and handcuffed him without reading him the Miranda rule warnings. Moorman says he told the officer he had enough money to pay for what was in his cart and had not finished shopping but the officer ignored him, frisked him and placed him in a police car.

The complaint states Moorman spent the next two months in jail awaiting trial for which the officer did not show up, and Moorman was released after testifying his version of events and being found not guilty.

According to the lawsuit, Moorman sustained extensive losses due to the officer's unlawful conduct. He says being held in jail for two months caused him to be evicted, made him lose the deposit on his apartment and all of its furnishings, forced him to drop out of college, losing the out-of-pocket expenses of tuition and books, and forced him to pay a huge towing and storing fee to retrieve his car after it was towed from a Krogers parking lot after his arrest. The complaint states these damages ruined Moorman's credit, causing him to be homeless for some time and caused the end of his relationship with his fiancee.

Moorman seeks damages and is appearing pro se.

The complaint states he previously filed a lawsuit that was dismissed, causing him to file a discrimination charges for violating his due process right to know the accusing officer's name. Moorman says he has not received an answer to that charge, but seeks the officer's name for this case.

Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas case number: 4:14-CV-03004