An Amarillo appeals court has agreed with the city of
Lubbock that a hearing officer overstepped his authority in reducing a police
officer’s suspension for excessive force.
A three-judge panel of the Seventh Court of Appeals on
Friday, Sept. 13, reversed 72nd District Judge Ruben Reyes’ ruling that the
city had no standing to appeal the hearing officer’s decision regarding Lubbock
police officer Christopher Hennsley’s suspension to the court.
The appeals court remanded the case to Reyes for
reconsideration.
Then-Chief Dale Holton suspended Hennsley indefinitely — in
essence firing the officer — in June 2010 for using excessive force and
violating several other police policies during a January 2010 traffic stop.
Hennsley, then an 11-year member of the force, appealed.
Hearing officer William McKee in November 2011 reduced the suspension to 15
days and awarded him back pay.
McKee reduced the suspension because he refused to consider
any charges in Holton’s indefinite suspension order that hadn’t also been
raised in the initial complaint Capt. Scott Hudgens wrote. Hudgens’ memo
started an internal affairs investigation of the incident.
McKee held that there was no reason Hudgens’ original
complaint could not have been amended while the internal affairs investigation
continued.
The Seventh Court of Appeals decided state law didn’t allow
McKee the discretion to pick and choose which parts of Holton’s suspension order
would be reviewed.
The case arose from a traffic stop near the La Kumbia
nightclub on Avenue Q that involved several Lubbock police officers.
A police dashboard video shows Hennsley smashing the rear
window of the Ford Mustang he and another officer pursued in their vehicles.
The video also shows Hennsley running up to one of the
vehicle’s occupants, who had left the car with his hands up, and kicking him in
the stomach.
Other charges against Hennsley including making a misleading
radio call, trying to subdue a resisting person without holstering his handgun,
using his stun gun without warning other officers and discharging the stun gun
with one hand while he had his handgun in the other hand.
Chief Justice Brian Quinn and Justices James T. Campbell and
Mackey K. Hancock were the panel that heard the case.