Attorneys: Killeen police officers should be fired, prosecuted for ‘brutal’ attack

Killeen Daily Herald
By Paul Bryant | Herald Staff
February 14, 2023

The attorneys who allege that three Killeen police officers “brutalized” Truman McCollum while he was in medical distress demanded during a news conference at Lions Club Park on Monday that they be fired and prosecuted.

“It is not a crime in the state of Texas or anywhere in the great United States of America to have a medical emergency, and that’s precisely what my client did when he had an accident in the Burger King drive-thru,” Matt Manning said. “It is irrefutable and indefensible what happened to Truman McCollum. Each and every one of these officers needs to be fired ... from the Killeen Police Department and the Overton Police Department, where one of them now works.”

Manning of Corpus Christi law firm Webb, Cason & Manning and Rawsi Williams of Rawsi Williams Law Group of Miami, Florida, said the officers named in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Waco — Franklin Melendez and Joshua Plowick — remain with the Killeen Police Department. Officer Edward Eurena has since joined the Overton Police Department in East Texas.

‘Used excessive force’

They “used excessive force against (McCollum) in violation of his individual rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution when they illegally detained him on (Jan. 16, 2021), tasing him six times and causing immense pain, when they had no legal authority to use any force whatsoever,” according to the suit filed on Jan. 13.

“In the state of Texas, when you assault somebody with a deadly weapon, that is aggravated assault,” Manning said. “That’s precisely what we saw these three officers do. All three of these officers need to be arrested immediately ... for aggravated assault. City leaders who run this city, most of whom look like the people standing right here — Black people — all need to be voted out. We cannot allow this to happen anymore.”

Just over 25 minutes of video from Eurena’s body cam show officers remove McCollum from his car after he hit another driver from behind in the drive-thru at Burger King on East Stan Schlueter Loop. McCollum is unconscious in the driver’s seat with both air bags deployed.

“Hey, sir,” an unidentified officer said. “Look at me. You’re going to have to step out of the car. Can you talk to me? Say something? Anything? Open your eyes?”

‘Way out of it’

Plowick is eventually heard telling another officer that McCollum is “way out of it” before he was strapped to a gurney and placed inside the ambulance. That’s when McCollum appears to come to and is confused about where he is and what’s happening to him.

“But the Killeen Police Department, instead of following the cues of the people who worked at the Burger King who said this man had a seizure, came and treated him less than human,” Manning said. “A man who’s a father, a husband, a genuine all-American man whose entire family has devoted itself to the service of his country should not be treated like livestock at the Bell County rodeo.”

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

“Attorney Williams and I, under the Constitution, have brought a claim for excessive force,” Manning said.

Manning released the body cam video to the Herald and other media. It shows at least four officers in the back of the ambulance screaming at McCollum while he was tased at least six times. He was handcuffed and eventually taken from the ambulance and placed into a patrol unit.

‘Electrocuting your body’

“I want you to imagine being inside of a box, 6 foot 3, trying to turn over,” Williams said. “(You’re) trying to show your hands, trying to see what’s going on and over and over ... again someone is electrocuting your body. And you don’t even know what’s going on. He was begging for them to stop. He was crying for them to stop.”

Photos provided by Manning show what appear to be injuries McCollum sustained from being tased multiple times, including to his feet.

“He’s in the ambulance to receive medical treatment,” Williams said. “They handcuff him ... and they pull him out of the ambulance, handcuffed. (They) walk him all the way across the ... parking lot with no shoes, and he’s still asking” them to stop. “Then they put him in the back of the police car, already handcuffed, and they tase him again.”

‘Officer is laughing’

Eurena’s body cam footage appears to confirm that McCollum was tased again inside the car. He and other officers can be heard laughing and uttering obscenities about how many times they tased him.

“That’s why you hear him screaming inside of the police car,” Williams said. “And while he is screaming, the officer is laughing. But if that wasn’t enough ... they take him off to jail, and we begin to see the officers have their little conspiracy meeting.”

That is a reference to when another Killeen police officer, named only as “Sgt. Mathews” in the lawsuit, huddles with the other officers to discuss how they will charge McCollum.

“What criminal offense do we have to arrest him because obviously, he’s already gone,” she said in the body cam footage. “So, what criminal offense do we have? We came out here for an accident, correct? We find out there is a man possibly seizing but we’re not sure.”

‘Not coherent enough’

Eurena suggested charging McCollum with resisting arrest because it’s “the best we’ve got right now.” But Plowick disagreed.

“The only issue I see with charging him with resisting is he was ... not coherent enough to understand you’re the police.”

That’s when they appeared to settle on a DWI charge.

“Suspicion of this is DWI,” Plowick said.

Eurena agreed.

“Offense is going to be DWI.”

According to Manning and Williams and a handwritten note included in the lawsuit, a Burger King employee explained to police that McCollum was having a medical emergency.

“The employee ... had to come out of the Burger King,” Williams said. “He told police, ‘I had to jump in the car and turn it off because this man was still unconscious.’ When he called (911), it was for medical assistance. Instead, what he received were police who came here bent on violating Truman’s rights. The last thing he knew was that he was in a drive-thru making an order. He did not even know he experienced a seizure.”

In the lawsuit that also names the city of Killeen as a defendant, the attorneys allege the officers violated McCollum’s Fourth Amendment rights.

“It is my own brother who has been brutalized by ... Killeen police,” Williams said. “My brother (is) standing here with his wife who’s in the Army Reserves. I served this country in the Army. Our older sister is retired Army. All of our cousins are retired Army. My brother’s best friend standing here is a retired chief warrant officer.

“Attorney Manning and I came to clean house,” she said. “We came to sweep out these corrupt officers. And what we’re saying to the people of Killeen: Don’t you go silent. They’re counting on you to go silent. The time to stop killing us is now. See our faces, police officers. See our faces, City Council. See my face because I didn’t come here to play.”

City officials have not responded to a Herald request for comment on the case.

Williams said that Eurena was served the lawsuit in Overton, a 2,300-population city about 21 miles southeast of Tyler. She also said that Killeen has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit — a standard practice by political subdivisions when they’re sued.

To watch the video of the January 2021 incident, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6ACNUxa8zM.