Civil Rights Corps Files Federal Lawsuit Against Houston Police Department Officers, Alleging Brutal Attack on Disabled Black Man During Traffic Stop

The lawsuit alleges that officers brutally beat and repeatedly tased an unarmed, disabled Black man during a minor traffic stop.  

Houston, Texas – On January 29, 2025, Civil Rights Corps filed a lawsuit against 6 Houston Police Department (“HPD”) officers on behalf of Houston resident Terrence Holland. Mr. Holland has multiple physical, cognitive, and psychological disabilities, including PTSD, hearing impairments, and a traumatic brain injury. The complaint alleges that defendant HPD officers Antonio Otero, Aaron Parr, Lucia Gracia, R. Hernandez, Julian M. Montemayor, and Sergeant John C. Fisher used overwhelming and excessive force on Mr. Holland when they repeatedly hit, kicked, punched, and tased him during a minor traffic stop. The complaint raises two Fourth Amendment excessive force claims and a Fourteenth Amendment fabrication of evidence claim against the defendant officers. 

According to the complaint, Defendant Otero stopped Mr. Holland for a suspected traffic violation one block away from his home on December 19, 2019. Otero stated that there was an issue with Mr. Holland’s license or registration and immediately ordered Mr. Holland to step out of his car. Mr. Holland, noticing Otero’s agitation and wanting to avoid a violent escalation, fully complied and requested to speak with a police supervisor. Defendant Otero then summoned additional HPD officers to the scene for backup, who arrived several minutes later. Mr. Holland was standing calmly with his hands in the air to demonstrate that he posed no threat when the additional officers arrived. The lawsuit alleges that Defendants Gracia and Parr immediately grabbed Mr. Holland, kicked him, and pulled him to the ground. The complaint further alleges that, within seconds, Defendant Parr deployed his taser on Mr. Holland and shocked him repeatedly for about a minute straight, in a blatant violation of HPD policy. Next, the complaint states, Defendant Otero joined in the pile-on, grabbing Mr. Holland and striking him in the head with his knee and elbow. Finally, the complaint alleges that Defendants Montemayor and Hernandez observed the violent assault and did nothing to intervene in their fellow officers’ misconduct. 

Mr. Holland was physically incapacitated by the body weight of at least three armed officers who, the lawsuit alleges, had no reason to believe he posed a threat to their safety, let alone one that would justify this level of force. According to the lawsuit, the defendant officers continued their attack despite Mr. Holland’s lack of resistance to their assault, and despite the fact he was crying out in pain and unarmed. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Holland’s then-girlfriend informed the officers that Mr. Holland is disabled and pleaded with them to stop, to no avail. The complaint alleges that after the attack, defendant officers arrested Mr. Holland and charged him with assault on an officer, using falsified evidence to cover up their excessive use of force.

The alleged attack left Mr. Holland injured and traumatized. According to the complaint, the defendants’ assault ruptured the stitches in Mr. Holland’s ear, split his lip open, and wounded his rib cage. The charges against Mr. Holland were ultimately dismissed, but not before he was made to endure an unjust prosecution that, the complaint alleges, was designed to cover up defendants’ own violence. With this lawsuit, Mr. Holland hopes to shed light on the epidemic of police violence against Black disabled people, who are both disproportionately targeted for police violence and more likely to suffer severe and lasting injuries as a result.

“Mr. Holland’s experience is not an anomaly,” says Shirley LaVarco, an attorney for Mr. Holland and a member of the RISE Houston campaign for police accountability. “The Houston Police Department frequently escalates low-level traffic stops into traumatic and life-altering experiences for Black and Brown drivers. We want justice for Mr. Holland and an end to discriminatory traffic stops.” 

Brittany Francis, civil rights attorney and member of RISE Houston notes that, “According to HPD’s own data, Black motorists are at least 29 times more likely to be subjected to violence during a traffic stop than white motorists. This violence is simply unacceptable.”

The lawsuit is seeking a declaration that the defendant officers violated Mr. Holland’s constitutional rights, along with compensatory and punitive damages.

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Civil Rights Corps is a nonprofit organization dedicated to challenging systemic injustice in the United States’ legal system. Through innovative civil rights litigation, advocacy, and public education, we aim to re-sensitize the legal system and our culture to the injustice and brutality that characterizes the contemporary U.S. legal system. We work to shift power to community-led movements, particularly those led by Black, brown and poor people who are most impacted by the unjust legal system, in order to create structural change. civilrightscorps.org 

RISE Houston is a grassroots coalition of Houston community members, organizers, civil rights lawyers, and concerned civilians dedicated to Re-Imagining Safety for Everyone (RISE) in Houston. RISE is calling on the Houston City Council to protect Black, Brown, and immigrant drivers from harassment and violence by prohibiting police from making discretionary stops for minor traffic violations, such as broken tail lights and expired registrations. risehouston.org

MEDIA CONTACT: Madhvi Venkatraman | media@civilrightscorps.org