Black Texas motorist settles civil rights lawsuit over traffic stop

The city, however, admits no wrongdoing in its settlement with Crawford.

"There's no admission of liability," said attorney Charles Frigerio, who represents the city. "We basically were just able to settle it."

Crawford's lawyer, Paul Vick, said that despite not admitting liability, the city "did realize this was an egregious case."

Meyer claimed he pulled over Crawford for having a “dirty” license plate on his white Pontiac, meaning the plate number was obscured by dirt or soot. At the time, Meyer was 23 and had been on the New Braunfels police force less than a year.

Most of the encounter with Crawford was captured on Meyer’s body camera. The city released the bodycam video and a dashboard camera recording from Meyer's patrol car nine months after the January 2020 incident. 

Meyer quit the police force before the recordings were made public.

The footage begins with Meyer driving his patrol car with the siren on. He read a license plate number twice to a dispatcher — though Meyer said later he had to “guess” the number because of dirt on the plate. Meyer said the driver wasn’t acknowledging his siren and lights.

A little more than a minute into the recording, Meyer said the driver finally started to pull over, taking the Texas 46 exit. Meyer requested backup.

After Crawford stopped in an urgent care clinic’s parking lot, Meyer instructed a female bystander to move away as Meyer approached Crawford’s car, gun drawn.

He instructed Crawford to put his hands on the steering wheel. Crawford asked why he’d been stopped, and holding his cell phone in one hand, he put both on the steering wheel.

The video then shows Crawford shouting, “Please don’t shoot me, officer! I’m Black!”

As Meyer ordered Crawford to get out of the Pontiac, the driver told the officer he still had his seat belt — because Meyer had directed him to keep his hands on the wheel. Crawford then asked if he could put down his phone as Meyer yelled at him, directing him to put the phone down.

Meyer threatened to cut Crawford’s seat belt, but Crawford unfastened it. Meyer then grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the car. Crawford went down on one knee as the officer ordered him to get on the ground.

Meyer is seen using a stun gun on the back of Crawford’s leg. The officer tasered him again and handcuffed him. By then, Crawford was lying flat on the ground.

Meyer told Crawford that he had tried to run, and Crawford replied: “I wasn’t running. I wasn’t stopping on the highway because it wasn’t safe. I was trying to get to a safe location. I’m allowed to do that. Those are the rules.”

Crawford was arrested on charges of having an unclean license plate, attempting to elude police and interfering with official duties.

The Comal County District Attorney’s Office, after reviewing video from Meyer’s patrol car, found he had probable cause to stop Crawford on a misdemeanor license-plate charge, which normally would result in a ticket.

District Attorney Jennifer Tharp said in a court motion, however, that it appeared Meyer was conducting a felony stop because he approached with his gun drawn. Meyer did not follow the department’s procedures for felony stops, the DA wrote.

She added that Crawford had been overly dramatic in yelling at Meyer not to shoot him, but that the officer did not try to de-escalate the situation.

The DA said then-police Chief Tom Wibert had asked prosecutors to drop all charges against Crawford “in the interest of justice,” and she did.

By then, Meyer had resigned.

Wibert retired in September 2020.

In November of that year, New Braunfels city officials publicly released the body-camera recording. They said the kind of behavior Meyer exhibited would not be tolerated and was not representative of the rest of the police force.

"In my opinion, Mr. Crawford was very courageous for pushing forward and making the city do the right thing," Vick said.

The settlement comes after the city and Meyer's lawyers filed motions for summary judgment requesting they be dismissed as defendants before trial in San Antonio federal court. In February, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez paused the case and instructed the parties to start settlement talks.

The city of New Braunfel's settlement money will come from the Texas Municipal League's liability insurance pool for cities.

Guillermo.Contreras@express-news.net