BEAUMONT – The city of Beaumont and its police department have been hit with a lawsuit alleging that a man was brutally assaulted by officers then let go without an explanation ever being given as to why he was attacked in the first place.
Seeking up to $1 million in damages, Kendrick Williams filed his suit on Sept. 10 in Jefferson County District Court.
According to the lawsuit, around 1 a.m. on Nov. 5 Williams heard a loud knock at his door. Police told him to come out with his hands up. Once he opened the door, he asked what was happening but officers refused to tell him.
As he approached the bottom of the stairs, multiple officers grabbed him and threw him to the concrete floor, fracturing his teeth, gashing open his chin and rendering him unconscious.
Officers handcuffed him while he was unconscious and there was a “fresh boot print on his chest,” the suit states.
Officers placed him in a police SUV. Another officer arrived at the scene and asked why Williams looked like that. Several moments later, officers removed the handcuffs, released him and left without getting him medical attention or explaining why they knocked on his door that night.
“There was no warrant, no reason for why they were at his house … despite his extensive attempts to discover more from defendants about that night,” the suit states.
Williams alleges BPD has stonewalled his attempts to discover what happened.
He is suing for punitive damages.
Austin attorney Bradley Beckworth represents him.
Judge Kent Walston, 58th District Court, has been assigned to the case.
Case No. A-204508