According to a new lawsuit, a Black man in Beaumont, Texas was body slammed and left paralyzed by law enforcement after being arrested and left untreated for about 20 hours.
Christopher Shaw was paralyzed while in police custody in June 2021 after was arrested for public intoxication and evaluated at a hospital. He was then transported to a county correctional facility.
“Before entering, Mr. Shaw slightly turned his body. Defendant Gillen responded by attempting to slam Mr. Shaw to the concrete platform at the rear entrance of the facility.”
Shaw “landed on his head and fractured his spine in multiple places.” But when he asked for assistance from “jail staff and employees of the jail’s medical contractor, CorrHealth…they refused to help him,” the lawsuit said. Additionally, “[w]hen Shaw asked one nurse for assistance, she allegedly told him, “I won’t help you until you help yourself.”
No one medically attended to Shaw until approximately 20 hours following this incident. “While he was left alone in his cell, he ‘defecated and urinated on himself multiple times due to his inability to control his bowels and kidney function’.’” It wasn’t until “later was an ambulance called for him and he was taken to the hospital again, where he underwent various emergency surgeries.”
But even after Shaw was assaulted and paralyzed by police, “Jefferson County authorities have continued to prosecute Shaw for Assault of a Public Official and Misdemeanor Public Intoxication. Shaw’s attorneys maintain that he never assaulted anyone.”
The public and media have issued calls for law enforcement to release video of the assault. Renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump was hired to represent Shaw in his lawsuit against the police officer who body slammed him, the City of Beaumont and Corrhealth, LLC.
Shaw wants accountability for his broken neck and neglected care.
At a press conference attorney Crump said, “The Beaumont Police and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office are prosecuting the man they paralyzed and they’re hiding the truth from the public,” adding “If this were a bank robbery, a hit and run or even a convenience store hold up, they would have released this video two years ago. The only difference is that, in this case, the suspect is wearing a badge.”
Earlier this month, Crump settled a lawsuit with the City of New Haven for $45 million for Randy Cox, another Black man who was paralyzed under police care, while being transported in handcuffs without a seat belt.