TEXAS CITY, Texas – A former officer, who was fired by the Texas City Police Department after a video of a traffic stop at Buc-ee’s in April 2023 went viral, will not face charges.
Former Texas City police officer Scott Harrell was no-billed by a Galveston County grand jury Tuesday, meaning he will not face charges in connection to the incident.
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The Galveston County District Attorney’s Office released this statement on the grand jury’s decision:
“Yesterday, the Galveston County Criminal District Attorney presented the investigation of former Texas City Police Officer Scott Harrell regarding his April 19, 2023 stop of a citizen in a convenience store parking lot for an alleged traffic violation. The investigation was conducted by the Public Integrity Division of the District Attorney’s Office. The Texas City Police Department, who terminated Harrell’s employment, cooperated fully in the investigation and turned over all relevant information. After hearing all of the evidence and deliberating in private, according to Texas law, the grand jury decided to take no action against the officer.”
Harrell was terminated after an investigation following the traffic stop where Harrell pulled over Christopher Shull as he stopped to fill up with gas. Body camera video captured the traffic stop.
Harrell claimed that Shull sped through the parking lot and cut through parking spaces on his way to the gas pumps.
“I’m not going to write you a ticket, but the only reason I’m not writing you a ticket is because I’m out of tickets right now,” Harrell said in the video.
Disregarding a traffic control device was the reason for the ticket, Harrell said, but it escalated because he said he didn’t like Shull’s attitude.
Shull could be heard questioning him about under what law he would be ticketed.
“You want to go to jail? You want to go to jail? You could go to jail for this,” Harrell said.
Three minutes later, Shull was handcuffed.
“What is the law designed to do sir? It’s designed to stop people from doing things that they’re not supposed to be doing,” Harrell said, as Shull is also heard saying, “I know you want voluntary compliance.”
Harrell then said, “Ok, go ahead and put your hands behind your back.”
When asked why he was being cuffed, Harrell said, “I’m concerned that you’re going to continue to do this unsafe behavior.”
“So now we’re playing Jean-Claude Van Damme future cop and you need to stop me from something I may do in the future?” Shull replied.
“It seemed to me that he wanted me to admit that he was right,” Shull told KPRC 2. “He just keeps escalating it and escalating it and trying to gain the authority to hammer me down.”
Shull asked Officer Harrell to cool off while he was sitting in the back of his patrol car, cuffed.
“You have forced my hand at this point.” Officer Harrell said on the video, “Because if I don’t go and see this through to its conclusion, I know you’re going to go to the police department and file a complaint on me.”
Another officer came to the scene, which is when Shull was released.
“The other officer has a ticket book he’s going to let me use, so you’re going to be receiving a citation because I think going to jail is a bit excessive,” Harrell said in the video.
Shull posted the body camera video on YouTube in May 2023. Nine days later, Joe Stanton, the Chief of the Texas City Police Department at the time, announced Harrell was placed on inside administrative duty.
On September 1, 2023, the new chief, Landis Cravens, announced he had terminated Harrell’s employment.
Shull says he has since settled with Harrell in a federal civil lawsuit.