Doyle Dennis LLP: Reckless, Racist Houston Police Chases Led to Deaths of Innocent Bystanders

Lawsuit: Hundreds of reviewed chases show dangers of 'driving while Black'

HOUSTON, Dec. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The families of three innocent bystanders killed by high-speed Houston Police Department chases blame their deaths on the city's "long, violent history" of targeting Black neighborhoods, their lawyers at Doyle Dennis LLP and the Law Office of Reginald E. McKamie, Sr., PC said today.

In a new court filing, the families of Michael Wayne Jackson, Carl Lee Wiley Jr., and Rashad Henderson cite City of Houston data from hundreds of high-speed chases to allege that Black suspects end up targeted and in "unnecessary, unjustifiable" chases – and that thousands of bystanders and fleeing drivers and dozens of police officers have been injured in such collisions in Houston through the years.

According to the lawsuit, "HPD has created a custom, pattern, and practice of targeting Black drivers and predominately Black neighborhoods when engaging in dangerous high-speed chases." The lawsuit cites 2020 city data, for example, showing 963 high-speed police chases from which the city reported the races of the drivers. For that year, Black citizens made up 22 percent of the population and 38 percent of traffic stops. Yet, according to the lawsuit, for high-speed pursuits involving HPD, Black drivers made up 56.39 percent of the chases.

Jackson was killed on Dec. 4, 2021 while walking to get a haircut in the Sunnyside area when he was struck on a sidewalk by an HPD vehicle in a high-speed chase with alleged car thieves. Wiley was killed on Feb. 7, 2022 when HPD targeted a black driver suspected of an open container violation in the Westchase area and the suspect drove through a red light and struck Wiley's vehicle. Henderson was killed on Dec. 17, 2020 when HPD initiated an hour-long high-speed chase of a 16-year-old runaway girl that led to a collision that forced his car off the road. All three men were Black.

The lawsuit also cites city policymakers in perpetuating biased law enforcement tactics: "As high-speed chases have increased in the last decade, HPD continues to train, supervise, and discipline its officers consistent with a pattern of approving racially motivated, dangerous high-speed pursuits. By example, as part of its training to evaluate when to initiate a high-speed chase, HPD teaches its officers to evaluate the 'social image' of the chase, weigh 'urban factors,' and evaluate this with their 'stresses, attitudes, emotions, prejudices, [and] bias.'"

The HPD disciplinary process also authorizes officers to adapt "after-the-fact excuses" to conceal racially motivated conduct in high-speed chases, according to the lawsuit: "Not surprisingly, in at least the last 10 years, HPD has never sustained a complaint about racial profiling – much less a high-speed chase complaint related to racial profiling."

The families are represented by Michael Patrick Doyle, Patrick M. Dennis and Jeffrey I. Avery of Doyle Dennis LLP, of Houston, and Reginald E. McKamie, Sr. of the Law Office of Reginald E. McKamie, Sr., PC, of Houston.

Attorney Michael Patrick Doyle said, "Put simply, HPD has an unwritten but very real and deadly policy, practice and custom of targeting Black neighborhoods and Black drivers with the risk of high-speed pursuit tactics. This led to the tragic, unnecessary deaths of Mr. Jackson, Mr. Wiley and Mr. Henderson, and the suffering of their families, among others."

Attorney Reginald E. McKamie said, "Driving while Black in a Black neighborhood should not create ongoing risk to innocent citizens, HPD officers and others. The time has come for HPD to face the families of these men and end its policy of unjustified and unreasonably dangerous high-speed pursuit tactics."

While chases have skyrocketed in recent years – nearly tripling in number since 2000 – HPD has dramatically reduced its traffic stop rate. Based on HPD records for traffic stops, traffic stops declined from 533,858 in 2008 to 217,288 in 2021.

The case is Janice Jackson, et al., v. City of Houston, Cause No. 2022-48417 in the 113^th Judicial District of Harris County Texas.

Contact: Erin Powers, Powers MediaWorks LLC for Doyle Dennis LLP and the Law Office of Reginald E. McKamie, Sr., PC, 281.703.6000, [email protected].

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SOURCE Doyle Dennis LLP