A Black man who was led by a rope by two officers on horseback has sued a southeast Texas city and its police department for $1 million, saying he suffered humiliation and fear during his arrest.
A lawsuit filed last week in Galveston County district court on behalf of Donald Neely, 44, alleged the officers’ conduct was “extreme and outrageous,” both physically injuring Neely and causing him emotional distress, news outlets reported, citing the court documents.
Photos of the August 2019 encounter showed Neely being led by the officers on a rope linked to handcuffs — reminiscent of pictures showing slaves in chains. Body-camera video from officers Patrick Brosch and Amanda Smith was released by officials in Galveston.
Treating an adult black man like “an unruly child” who needs “chiding” is a traditional hobby for racists. The concept that blacks were not fully developed humans and could only be managed if treated like overgrown children was a standard part of white supremacist propaganda. So to me that actually sounds just like a racist who has absorbed traditional racist tropes and is abusing their position as an agent of the state to force a black man to play along under threat of death.
I wouldn’t. It’s typical to wait for departmental response and investigation as well as any related trial before filing a lawsuit. If you file a lawsuit right after the incident, you can easily sabotage your case as there is still an ongoing investigation and possibility of an unexpected response from them. You also can’t include anything about ‘malicious prosecution’ part until the prosecution has taken place, and trials usually take months.
Well I used that description, but I think it sounds like any person in authority dealing with an uncooperative subject. “I’m on a horse - the horse outweighs you - you won’t pull the horse, the horse will pull you. So cooperate. It’s better for you that way.”
Maybe threatening, but not racist per se. I could easily see that said to a white person, if a white person were to be handcuffed, then tied to walk between two horse-riding officers. That’s where the question of racial bias comes in.
So, he forces a black man into a humiliating posture reminiscent of taking a slave to market, talks to him like a child AND is surprised that the guy is ‘uncooperative’? Still not seeing the lack of racism that you are. Sounds very much like a racist living out a racist fantasy, with the ‘subject was uncooperative’ excuse that cops always trot out with their broad definition of ‘uncooperative’.
If you could easily see that, can you share the source with us? That is, what is the incident of these police officers tying a white person and parading them around from horseback? As far as anyone has been able to discern, this is something that only gets done to black people. The fact that cops only seem to get the idea to do this when they’re trying to humiliate a black person tends to undercut the claim that the cop living a racist fantasy of parading a black person like a slave being dragged to market while treating an adult black man “like a parent chiding an unruly child” wasn’t at all racist, and just happened to act in accord with multiple white supremacist tropes and fantasies.
I think it’s worth asking the question about how often this is done and to whom and under what circumstances, just to contextualize it. But I hope the guy wins his case because even if they do it regularly to lots of people of all races, it’s a pretty shitty way to carry out law enforcement.
Actually, the officer who made the comment was female. As for “reminiscent of taking a slave to market,” that seems projecting based upon the race of the man.
Regarding how cooperative or uncooperative the man was and why, I won’t speculate without more to go on, like body cam imagery.
I did not say “I see this happening,” as if tying someone to horseback is a common event. I said “I could easily see that said,” in the hypothetical, and I was referring to the comment that was made, not the act of tying someone to horseback.
As far as anyone had been able to discern, this had happened to one black man once.
You are looking for a pattern in a dataset of one.
Yes, racism and racists engaging in racist actions are usually about the race of the victim.
So police have already admitted to leading the man around like a slave to market and to infantalizing him in their comments as they did so, but you need more evidence? What evidence would change your mind, exactly?
So, you could easily imagine the same thing happening to a white person, and even though it doesn’t happen to white people, it’s obviously not racist because you imagine a situation where it happens to a white person, but can’t provide an example of it happening?
Incorrect. As was pointed out upthread, there was a similar case in 1986:
But I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that police like leading black men around on a rope from horseback just like they’re being led to a slave auction, and there’s absolutely no racism involved! Everyone complaining is just overreacting!
I don’t know why I’m bothering to engage this. It’s clear you won’t listen, and keep twisting my words.
They did not “infantilize” him with their remarks. Did you watch the body cam footage? They were polite, and referred to him as “Mr. Neely”. The instructions they gave him were to be clear about what they were doing and to prevent harm to him. They told him, “We are going to go this way now,” and that kind of thing.
However, you asked about this happening to white people. Well, KPRC in Houston has this story.
Danny Allex is a white man who said the same thing happened to him a few years ago, including the blue rope.
The description “reminiscent of taking a slave to market” is an interpretation based solely on Mr. Neely’s color. Would the same remark be made about Mr. Allex?
Mr. Neely said in the body cam he was not embarrassed and that the officers treated him nice.
Look, there are plenty of instances of overt and institutional racism from police. Currently, there is a lot of scrutiny on police behavior. This is an instance where the optics are not good. But to compare this to the incidents of slavery is projecting the answer on the incident. There does not appear to be any intention of bias or racial animosity in this incident.
The police had him in custody on site in the summer heat, they called for transport and were told none was available for some time, and so they elected to use a practice for transporting apprehended individuals using horseback to move him to a detention center with air conditioning.
This incident has sparked a review of best practices and reconsidering of the technique. It is certainly worth examining to see if there was racial bias, but none appears evident.
You literally stated that the remark sounded like a parent chiding an unruly child. I’m not sure what’s less twisting someone’s words than taking a clear and unambiguous statement at face value.
If it’s really ‘accepted practice nationwide’, then why don’t we hear of any other departments doing it? Why are they changing their practice if it’s really accepted nationwide? Police are professional liars, it’s a major component of what they do, taking any statement from the police at face value is just absurd.
Racists doing racist shit sometimes do the same shit to white people without the racial overtones. It doesn’t change that the cops chose to lead a black man by a leash from horseback like an owner taking a slave to market. Paying attention to the facts of an incident is what a reasonable observer does.
Oh gosh, a black man in custody of police who can kill him on a whim and get paid vacation, and if they don’t feel that bold can engage in all kinds of legally sanctioned torture if they interpret anything he does as resisting, somehow didn’t say anything bad about police when they had him in custody? You don’t think the threat of death and torture hanging over his head might have colored his remarks?
They literally led a black man around like a slave to market. If you want to deny the racial implications of that, I can’t stop you from doing so, any more than I can stop you from denying that grass is green or water is wet.
I was looking for an analogy. It was not my best. I also had not watched the video at that time. I since have.
As I said, I am not having luck verifying that comment. It does appear that Galveston used to have a horseback patrol, but it was cut at some time. Recently they reinstituted it and are formalizing rules.
I am paying attention to the facts. The facts are they handcuffed him, then used a rope to allow them to guide him so he couldn’t run away. They secured the rope to the handcuffs. They did not have chains about his neck, or bindings of his feet. They spoke to him to tell him where they were going and what they were doing. They spoke respectfully.
You are the one going by emotions and interpretations. “Like an owner taking a slave to market” is not a fact, it is an opinion.
As for the other, now you say it’s racist even though it was also done to white people. Before you were worked up that I didn’t have any examples of white people being treated that way. Get your objections straightened out.
You are saying it is racists doing racist shit because they did it to one black man, even though they previously did it to two white men. But now you say racists do the same racist shit to white people, too?
Yet we have no evidence of racial animosity. We have a similarity of appearance to some people with incidents from slavery, but that is begging the question. Is it racism? “Well it has to be, they are white and he was black.” So anytime a black man is placed in handcuffs, that’s also racist? Hey, they’re locking them in handcuffs. And prisoner transports use chains - SLAVERY!
I don’t believe that every bad thing that happens to blacks is racially motivated, even when done by cops.
In other words, I did not twist your words at all and in fact took them at face value. So your accusation that I was twisting your words is completely false.
Nope, it’s a fact. That is in fact a common method for taking slaves to market. Do you want me to find a picture and link it?
My objections are straight. I never made any claim that a cop leading a black man around like a slave being brought to market could only be racist if they never did it to any white people. The fact that they’ve taken a humiliating and demeaning means of transporting a prisoner and use it on white people doesn’t change the racist history behind leading a black man around like a slave being brought to market.
I do believe that leading a black man on a lead from horseback like he’s a slave being brought to auction is racist, even if they also use the same technique to humiliate and demean white people.
I tried to make an analogy. You took it at face value. I then tried to correct the misunderstanding of the intent of my analogy, but you refused to accept my change in description, and cling to the original terms that I do not say is an accurate depiction.
We’re just going to have to disagree over how “like an owner taking a slave to market” it actually is. It is similar in style. Lots of things are similar in style to other things without being those other things. Like, for example, transporting violent criminals often use handcuffs, chains, and leg restraints. That does not make it racist, or derived from slavery. Even if the violent criminal happens to be black.
See, you keep saying they are using the technique to humiliate and demean. That is an opinion. Just because you think the practice is demeaning and humiliating does not mean that is their intent. Their intent is to securely transfer a prisoner from one location to another, when the cops arrived on horseback and no vehicle transport is available. Do other options exist? Certainly. But that still doesn’t prove they wanted to humiliate him, or make him look “like a slave being led to market”. They just wanted to take him from point A to point B.