BEAUMONT, Texas — Attorneys for a Beaumont man, who says he was paralyzed by a Beaumont Police officer after he was arrested in 2021, are suing the Jefferson County sheriff for release of video of the incident.
Attorneys for Christopher Shaw, including civil rights attorney Ben Crump, held a news conference in front of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in downtown Beaumont Thursday morning to announce the lawsuit.
In July 2022, Shaw's attorneys filed a federal lawsuit naming Beaumont Police officer James Gillen, the City of Beaumont, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the jail’s medical contractor.
The suit names Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens and says that she has “refused to perform her statutory duty to make public records in her possession available for inspection and copying" by not releasing the video.
Shaw's attorneys are asking that all video from his arrest through his stay at the Jefferson County jail, where the incident happened, be released.
12News has also previously requested the video but has not received it.
Beaumont Police Chief Jim Singletary has said in the past that he plans on making the video public but said he did not know when that would happen.
They claim that the officer had become agitated when Shaw lifted one of his legs while the officer was standing in front of him.
Police have told the story differently saying Shaw became very aggressive, using physical force to push officers inside the jail's booking area according to a probable cause affidavit.
Police say he “intentionally and knowingly” proceeded to kick the Gillen in the shin and groin, the affidavit says.
Shaw's lawyers say in the lawsuit, "with his hands cuffed behind him and surrounded by three officers, Chris did not have the physical ability to place Gillen in fear of imminent threat of harm and danger."
Singletary has defended officer Gillen in the past saying, "we feel very badly about the gentleman who got injured, but our officer was just doing his job, and I want them to protect themselves."
Shaw's attorneys say in the lawsuit that he never touched Gillen .
After the incident Shaw was charged with assaulting a police officer.
They also say that Gillen lost his balance and fell on top of Shaw after he landed on his neck on the floor.
Shaw was unconscious and bleeding afterwards and jail staff then called an ambulance.
His lawyers say he was unable to sit up or stand when paramedics arrived and was then put on a gurney and taken by ambulance to Baptist Hospital in Beaumont.
At the hospital Shaw, who was still unable to sit or stand, was given what his attorneys describe as a "short evaluation" and then released according to the lawsuit.
They say his representative to medical staff at the hospital was Gillen, who then put him into a police patrol car and took him back to the jail.
Once back at the jail they say he still could not move and had to be dressed in jail clothing by the staff.
Eventually he was placed in a chair but slid out onto the floor his attorneys say in the lawsuit.
His attorneys allege that no jail medical staff helped him though he begged for help.
They claim when he asked a nurse for help she told him, “I won’t help you until you help yourself."
Shaw, left on the floor and unable to control his bodily functions, soiled himself and urinated on himself the lawsuit alleges.
They say in the lawsuit that he again asked for help after his breathing had become labored.
“Lady, I am going to die. And it will be on your watch." he told the nurse according to the lawsuit.
His attorneys say in the lawsuit that when the jail staff finally called for medics again they told jail staff that his body was extremely swollen and he should have been taken to a doctor.
Shaw was then taken to Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont where he underwent several surgeries and doctors there found that he suffered several fractures to his spine leaving him paralyzed according to the lawsuit.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.