Civil rights leaders and attorneys are demanding Texas authorities release a video allegedly capturing a local cop slamming a Black man to the ground leading to him being in a paralyzed state.
The local NAACP sued the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on behalf of Christopher Shaw, a 41-year-old Black man who was partially immobilized by Beaumont police officer James Thomas Gillen — calling for the footage to be made public on Thursday, June 29.
Shaw was in Gillen’s custody at the Jefferson County Correctional Facility for public intoxication on June 12, 2021, when the alleged violence occurred.
Renowned national civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels with attorney Chance Lynch are also representing Shaw in a separate lawsuit against Gillen, Beaumont, and Corrhealth, LLC.
“The video is undeniable,” Crump said in a statement. “It reveals Officer Gillen body slamming a handcuffed Christopher Shaw onto a concrete floor, breaking his defenseless client’s neck and leaving him paralyzed. The truth, concealed for over two years, is now exposed, and we will not allow them to hide anymore.”
Shaw’s federal lawsuit filed in July 2022 alleges he was handcuffed and restrained by deputies at the Jefferson County jail when Gillen forcefully threw him onto the concrete floor, causing Shaw’s neck to fracture. Shaw’s attorneys alleged he posed no physical threat to Gillen or any officers present, and suffered a life-altering injury due to the attack.
The complaint claims Shaw was left lying on the floor, visibly paralyzed, pleading for assistance from the Corrhealth medical personnel at the jail and these pleas for help were disregarded, leaving Shaw lying in urine and feces.
A Jefferson County grand jury declined to indict Gillen for criminal charges.
Despite repeated demands from the media and the public, the Beaumont Police Department and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office have refused to release the video footage of the incident, his attorneys allege.
Shaw is facing charges of assault of a public official and misdemeanor public intoxication. However, his legal team maintains that he never assaulted anyone.
“Their mistreatment of Christopher Shaw extends beyond the brutal attack that left him paralyzed from the chest down. They aim to unjustly incarcerate him for a crime that never occurred,” Daniels said in a statement. “They want to hide him away, just like they’re hiding this video, so that the public doesn’t witness the extent of their danger to all of us.”
