We often hear claims being made that devolve into full-out debates at dinner tables about police discrimination. Many people find it difficult to believe that there are genuine circumstances in our country where police will discriminate against and target ethnic minorities. 

Yet, as we have seen too many times, “trained police officers” still respond in a racially discriminatory way. Tommie is someone who happened to be in the right place at just the wrong time for this reckless response to find him.

The incident happened on an early morning when Tommie's day was just getting started. He was running to try to catch the bus when he saw two police officers pursuing him at gunpoint while simultaneously threatening to shoot him, despite him not being a threat to them or anyone around the area,

The officers saw Tommie running and wrongly assumed he had some part in a nearby disturbance and was attempting to get away. The officers used force to detain him and made allegations of Tommie possessing a firearm to create a basis for his detention. 

Bodycam footage even showed officers conspiring to find a way to justify the detainment and abuse towards Tommie. He was charged with unlawful firearm possession by a felon and was now facing 25 years of prison time because of old charges for which he had already paid his debts.  

He spent the next two years in Harris County jail pre-trial without a chance to be heard. He had a court-appointed attorney who only visited him three times in that span of time. Despite Tommie being innocent, his court-appointed attorney attempted to convince him that his best chance was to take a plea deal and serve 10 years. 

Tommie was deflated and deeply unhappy with this proposition. It was an affront to his dignity and his innocence. 

Eventually, Tommie found out about RJ. As our attorneys learned more about his story and the morning of the arrest, it became apparent that Tommie's constitutional rights were being grossly undermined during and after the arrest. 

In contrast to the two years Tommie spent with his last appointed council, it only took four months to win Tommie’s freedom and a dismissal of his charges. 

Still, incarceration has a lingering effect on individuals and families who are unjustly forced to encounter it. Although he is grateful for the outcome, the feeling of injustice that Tommie had to experience still unsettles him and he has committed to sharing his story with others, hoping it will prevent someone from experiencing the same injustice that he had faced.  

Thank you Tommie for your courage! 

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