U.S. Magistrate grants city of Galveston's motion to dismiss Jack Co. man's lawsuit

GALVESTON - A federal lawsuit which blamed the city of Galveston for its police department's use of a Taser on a Jack County man was recently junked.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John R. Froeschner issued a final judgment order in favor of the city on Aug. 27, disposing Jarrett Anthony Neu's suit after three months of legal action.

Judge Froeschner's order, "a final and appealable judgment" rules that Neu take nothing from the city.

Neu brought the suit in May on allegations the defendant's police officers apprehended him at a local apartment complex without a warrant and subjected him to threats, intimidation, insult and humiliation.

He said the defendant inflicted “severe and cruel” physical abuse and punishment on him “by both physical beating and the repeated unnecessary and unwarranted deployment of a less-than-lethal Taser weapon.”

According to the original petition, a bystander filmed the arrest on his cell phone only for police to confiscate the device “without a legal reason.”

The plaintiff, who suffers from a pre-existing cardiac ailment, sustained “permanent and debilitating injuries as well as permanent disfigurement and scarring,” the suit said.

In response to the litigation, the respondent entered a motion to dismiss in June stating the plaintiff failed to establish his claims under the U.S. Constitution and state law.

Attorney William S. Helfand of Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Aughtry in Houston represented the city.

Case No. 3:13-CV-180