HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – The Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office is investigating a case of mistaken identity that went viral on Facebook.
The five-minute video posted by Clarence Evans, recorded by his wife, Kenya Evans, has been shared more than 20,000 times, and has garnered more than 15,000 comments.
The video picks up a minute or so after a deputy arrived at Evans' home, where he was throwing a football with his 6-year-old son, he said.
"He said there was a report of a stolen dog," Evans said. "Then he asks me for my ID, and I said I felt I didn't need to give that."
That's when the deputy accused Evans of being a wanted fugitive from Louisiana "and he grabbed me," Evans said.
That's when the video apparently picks up, showing the deputy holding Evans' right arm and telling him he has "an open warrant out of Louisiana."
Evans repeatedly tells the deputy he's got the wrong guy, and the deputy repeatedly tells Evans to prove it.
"Then, well, let's just see the ID and we'll be done," the deputy said, in different ways, several times. He called Evans "Quentin" once. Evans said he also called him "Reg" before the video started.
"You've already called me by three different names!" Evans yells. "My name is not f-----g Quentin!"
The deputy offers to walk Evans to his patrol vehicle and show him the picture of the fugitive, but Evans refuses to go with him.
Kenya Evans repeatedly tells the deputy her husband is "not Quentin" and asks, "Who are you looking for?"
When a second deputy arrives, he brings the first deputy his phone, on which there is a picture of the fugitive.
"Doesn't that look like you?" the deputy asks Evans in the video.
"No! That don't look like me! What the f--- is wrong with you?!" Evans responded. "You trying to say because I've got dreads, that's me?!"
"I just felt violated," Evans later told KPRC. "Actually, I thought it was a joke at first. I thought it was a prank or something."
Evans hired civil rights attorney U.A. Lewis, who said, "What he's guilty of is being black while watching his kids."
"I thought I was going to lose my husband," Kenya Evans said. "(I thought the deputy was going to) shoot him. That's what happens in today's society. Cops shoot black people."
Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said his deputies were just doing their jobs and did them calmly.
"The deputy was there on official business based on a report that a wanted fugitive was near the location," Chief Deputy Donald Steward said in a statement. "The deputies left when they determined that this man was not the suspect they were seeking."
Evans said the fugitive in the photo shown to him had a beard, dreads and his same skin complexion, but was older, "in his 50s or 60s," and was more "bald on top."
Evans said he originally didn't produce his ID because "it wouldn't have helped." As soon as the deputies saw his ID, they left.
Watch the full video below:
VIDEO: Clarence Evans involved in confrontation with deputy