HOUSTON – *GRAPHIC WARNING FOR VIDEO RELATED TO THIS ARTICLE*
METRO Police Chief Vera Bumpers met with media on Sept. 26 to give updated information on the investigation involving two METRO officers and a man who was arrested.
Bumpers said video of the incident will be released, and that you will see "excessive force." She said there is no audio of the incident and METRO officers do not wear body cams.
METRO police said Darrell Giles, 31, should not have been beaten with a baton at Burnett Station on Sept. 14.
He was released from jail on Sept. 16 and taken to the hospital after charges against him were dropped.
Why he was hospitalized wasn't made immediately available.
The officer responsible for the beating offered his resignation via letter to METRO on Sept. 26.
According to investigators, Officer Jairus Warren approached Giles, who was slumped over in a seat at the Burnett Station platform Wednesday morning. After a confrontation, Warren beat Giles with a baton.
Bumpers said that after Warren and another officer at the scene, identified as Daniel Reynoso, reported a use-of-force incident, a supervisor reviewed video taken by security cameras at the station.
Reynoso was cleared of wrongdoing, but was ordered to additional training after the incident.
Bumpers said the video showed Warren beating Giles, but she was not able to determine how many times he was struck. Giles’ attorney said her client was hit more than a dozen times.
“One is too many, in my opinion, if it's not justified," Bumpers said.
The video did not show any use of force by Reynoso, Bumpers said.
Giles' mother, Ossie Giles, said she was shocked when she learned of the incident.
"When I seen him on the news, my blood pressure shot through the roof," she said.
Ossie Giles said the only thing her son can be accused of is sleeping on a bench at a train stop.
"It still hurt[s] my heart every time I see it, that they beat my child like that," she said.
Black Lives Matter demanded that the video be released.
Bumpers said she apologizes to Giles for anything that he feels was inappropriate. She said she will not tolerate excessive force, and the agency’s policy is to treat everyone with respect.
Originally, Giles was charged with resisting arrest and criminal trespass. Those charges were dropped, according to court records.
Bumpers said there had been no previous complaints of excessive force against Warren.
Giles is expected to recover from his injuries, Bumpers said.
