College Station responds to lawsuit by family of man killed during warrant execution
Published: Tue, 10/10/23
City of College Station responds to lawsuit by family of man killed during warrant execution
KBTX News 3 at Six Weekday(Recurring)By Alex Egan
Published: Oct. 9, 2023
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - The family of a man shot and killed during a warrant execution in February 2023 has filed a lawsuit against the City of College Station.
Attorneys representing the family of Mark Hopkins are seeking to “uncover the full truth about what led to the untimely and unjustifiable death” of Hopkins who was woken up during the early morning hours of February 8, 2023.
The family has filed the lawsuit in state district court in Brazos County. According to a press release, the attorneys representing the family claim “College Station Police Department also is accused of submitting a false statement to a local municipal court to obtain the raid warrant.”
The release goes on to say College Station Police have not provided complete access to “incident reports and investigative documents, including the complete and unedited body camera footage of all CSPD officers involved in the warrant, the underlying raid, and the shooting of Hopkins.” The release says College Station Police have provided an “abbreviated and highly edited” version of the body camera footage.
KBTX has requested to view body camera footage but our request has been denied.College Station Police said the warrant execution was part of a larger operation tied to a “high-level drug dealer.”
There have been several arrests related to the investigation.
The city responded to the lawsuit Monday afternoon with the following statement:
“The Texas Rangers conducted an independent, thorough, fair, and transparent investigation, and the City is confident in their findings. The Brazos County grand jury also reviewed the matter and returned a No Bill, finding no criminal conduct by the officer involved. The loss of life is always tragic, and the City sympathizes with everyone involved. However, the City of College Station disagrees strongly with the statements made by the family’s attorney. The City has met and worked with the family’s attorney while complying with the law, has cooperated with the family, and has offered to meet directly with them. The City will respond accordingly to the petition to investigate the claim before a suit is filed, as the matter is related to a pending criminal case involving Abraham Escobar and others.”Download the full lawsuit below.