HOUSTON – The City of Houston and its police department are implicated in an alleged 2015 break-in of a Harris County couple’s residence, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed in Harris County District Court on March 2.
Robin Custer claims that two Houston police officers committed in the act in question at her and her husband’s Highlands property on Mar. 5, 2015.
Per the complaint, Ricky Custer arrived at the residence to discover “the home had been invaded and the home’s exterior security cameras had been disabled.” Robin Custer says that she left work to see what occurred.
The Custers surveyed the purported damage and reviewed the day’s recorded DVR footage from their camera and that of their neighbor’s to which they spotted a uniformed HPD officer and another in a POLICE tactical vest surveying the house.
According to the suit, the officers are seen walking back and forth outside of the home. Also reportedly captured in the Custers’ nearly 15-minute video were instances their cameras stopped working.
Recent court documents further assert that the neighbor’s footage showed the officers disabling the cameras, as well as the uniformed officer using his flashlight to force the front door open.
Once they accessed the home, the original petition says, the officers spent up to three minutes inside before exiting.
It adds that “the house was left appearing as if someone had burglarized the domicile.”
The suit ultimately accuses the respondents of violating numerous state and federal laws, including but not limited to criminal mischief, reckless damage or destruction, and burglary.
A jury trial is requested.
Attorney Brent Coon of the law firm Brent Coon & Associates in Houston serves as Robin Custer’s lead counsel.
Harris County 269th District Court Case No. 2017-14490