Not the least bit surprised. So a 12 year old girl, in her own yard who goes outside to flip the breaker box after the lights go out at some gets tackled by three White PLAIN CLOTHES officers, gagged and punched in the fact screams “DADDY!” and Daddy comes running. Turns out the three would be kidnappers were Galveston police officers who thought the girl was a prostitute because she was “wearing tight shorts.” They were looking for WHITE prostitutes who were supposed to be hanging around in an area TWO BLOCKS AWAY!
Dymond Milburn, from Galveston, Texas, was grabbed by three plain-clothed police officers out the front of her house and told, “You’re a prostitute. You’re coming with me”, according to the lawsuit.After struggling with the men and screaming, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy”, the girl had her mouth covered and was struck in the face and throat, leaving her with black eyes and throat and ear drum injuries, her lawyer said.
The officers had been called to the area in relation to three white prostitutes nearby.
Dymond’s house was two blocks from the area the policemen were told to go to, and, as an African American 12-year-old girl, she did not fit the physical description of the suspects.
However, the officers reportedly believed she was a prostitute because of the “tight shorts” she was wearing.Three weeks later, police went to Dymond’s school and arrested her for assaulting a public servant. Her father was also arrested. SOURCE
Here is the officers’ version of the incident from their lawyer. Try not to laugh:
Both the daughter and the father were arrested for assaulting a peace officer. “The father basically attacked police officers as they were trying to take the daughter into custody after she ran off.”
Also, “The city has investigated the matter and found that the conduct of the police officers was appropriate under the circumstances,” Helfand says. “It’s unfortunate that sometimes police officers have to use force against people who are using force against them. And the evidence will show that both these folks violated the law and forcefully resisted arrest.”Houston Press
Lets take a gander at the “Resisting Arrest” portion of the Texas Penal Code shall we?
§ 38.03. RESISTING ARREST, SEARCH, OR TRANSPORTATION.
(a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally prevents or
obstructs a person he knows is a peace officer or a person acting in
a peace officer's presence and at his direction from effecting an
arrest, search, or transportation of the actor or another by using
force against the peace officer or another.
(b) It is no defense to prosecution under this section that
the arrest or search was unlawful.
(c) Except as provided in Subsection (d), an offense under
this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
(d) An offense under this section is a felony of the third
degree if the actor uses a deadly weapon to resist the arrest or
search. Texas Penal Code
In another lifetime, I had a client who got hammered with evading, even though he didn’t know a peace officer was looking for him.
We don’t know what happened that night. These facts are the ones laid out in the lawsuit. However, the city’s response that “they thought she was a prostitute because she was wearing tight shorts” is laughable.
So let this be a lesson to you, please don’t let your daughters wear anything that might appear too tight in Galveston, TX, they might find themselves dragged into a van by Galveston PD. Hat Tip to WAOD reader Sharon, who sent this in.
45 comments ↓
How was she supposed to know they were police officers if they’re in plain clothes? She must have been terrified, poor thing.
Wow, someone call Rev Al. Since it involves the police he will come
I was thinking it took three people to change a light bulb not arrest a minor.
Hopefully this poor child and her family will get a decent financial settlement from the City of Galveston for what they have put her and her family through. What the police officers did that night was bad enough, but to further compound it by bringing charges against the child and her father later – I guess the police hoped to use those charges as a “defense” or at least an attempted mitigation of damages against the civil lawsuit that they know is coming. I hope Galveston is made to pay not only for the mistake and savage treatment of a 12 year old girl, but also for putting them through humiliating and costly arrests.
This really can’t be a true story. This is too hard to believe. WoW!
Okay…
I’m a bit flabbergasted…
Will comment mor elater when my brain fully wraps itself around the situation..
Blown away.
Another example of how far we’ve come and just our far we still have to go…
What about the psychological effect of this on the girl?
I hope the cops get charged, the father had every right to protect his daughter.
I really dont want to sit here and OMG over this. Really, this is not even laughable, this is an outrage. There is no excuse for this type of behavior. They have marred and traumatized this girl for life, and nobody seems to acknowledge this, since protecting the ignorance, stupidity, and obvious racial bias of these GROWN fools is more important than the the mental well-being of this 12YR OLD GIRL. ARE THEY SERIOUS!!
This should not even be up for debate! It doesnt even matter it this girl is a neck-popping, gum smacking, hot pants, freak. This could not have been ascertained in the brief moment before they took her down. Her character should not even be called into question, b/c it is IRRELEVANT!! They were wrong, PLAIN AND SIMPLE, and should have been offering deep and sincere apologies. Instead they have added a grave insult to injury by further publicly humiliating the girl and her father, and dragging her out of school. This is a million dollar case if I ever saw one, and if they dont get something out of this, it should be brought to the mainstream. So that these men can be called out for the child molesting, racist, perverts that they are, and publicly humiliated. Even with that, it would still not take away this girls trauma and the long-lasting effects of it, but she would at least know she is valued enough that ppl care about her. And that is all you can really give her right now, in addition to love and support.
PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! POST THE COPS PICS!!! They should be posting this story on ever surface of TX, WITH the cops pics!!!
I’m skeptical about the police officers’ intention. This was abduction and declaring this child a prostitute would have allowed them to harm her sexually. I think they were molesters hiding behind a shield. Sounds like Federal Prosecution time. Oh, and a billion dollar lawsuit against the cops to boot.
Well, these three cops just insured this young lady will be able to afford to go to Harvard or Stanford after high school. Probably will be able to move to Beverly Hills and go to Beverly Hills High School. What idiots these three cops and the city are. Just unbelievable, isn’t it?
they were in plain clothes and expected her to let them take her away??? wonders shall never end!!!! what is clear though is that these police officers are either morons or criminals themselves, that’s my opinon. only morons would think it’s reasonable to approach and arrest someone, especially a little girl, without a fight. and only a criminal would put on plain clothes (knowing that the bagde will protect HIM) then go out there to commit nonsense. either way, God PLEASE, i hope this family sues galvestin as if there is no tommorrow, God please let them get a very large settlement, around ‘7 figures’ would be great. and then let the girl’s parents have the common sense to sent her to extensive therapy. I also pray that those police officers pay personally for what they did. as in that god shows them the errors of their ways while they’re on earth. also, of course, we will not see this anywhere else. so thanks GINA
What can we do? How can we this on the national stage?
Let’s let them know we are aware of this and pressure them to suspend these officers.
Galbeston Chief of Police, Charles Wiley, can be reached by phone at 409-765-3790, or by email at cwiley@cityofgalveston.org.
What can we do? Is there a national forum building for this??? I am very angry.. and I don’t want this to become one of those “tsk-tsk-tsk” fading memories…..
I just emailed Howard Witt with the story. He’s the Chicago Tribune journalist who wrote about another black girl, 14-year-old Shaquanda Cotton, who was wrongfully imprisoned and sentenced to 7 years for pushing a hall monitor. His focus on the story was pivotal to her early release. Maybe he can gain a national audience for the story and put pressure on the Galveston police department.
Okay well all this sounds wonderful, but did anybody think to contact the family’s representative to ask them what they want and need?
If you get national attention, what is the purpose of the attention? To get the charges dropped? To embarrass the city and force a settlement?
Get 250 Black folks to march on Galveston City Hall? Pay for a full page ad in the Houston Chronicle shaming the City of Galveston?
If I understand this case correctly, INTERNAL AFFAIRS (yeah right) already “cleared” these officers. So somebody MIGHT want to contact the family’s representative to ask them what they need before y’all storm the Bastille!
The last thing you want to do is start acting like the CRIC and go off half cocked. Always begin with an end in mind. If you want a suspension, is that even possible now under the city’s disciplinary process and union contract?
So step number 1 MIGHT be to make contact with the family’s attorney, but raising awareness can’t hurt, This girl is till facing a criminal charge that has not been dismissed.
FYI Galveston is in full blown PR mode attempting to get people to visit the island. It was ravaged by Hurricane Ike.
Naima,
As lamentable as this case is, don’t expect Rev. Hotcomb to come around unless he can wrestle the spotlight from the Milburns. Either that or if Ultra Sheen offers him a contract to use their products on camera.
Yes, when all is said and done, the Milburns will be getting PAID. Although it is at the expense of a severe beating, humiliation, officer misconduct and a host of other means, I don’t see them hurting economically in her teenage and hopefully adult life.
VYS don’t be so sure, about them getting paid.
Also, we don’t want the Rev’s within 1000 miles of this case. They will chew this little girl’s family up and spit them out and then move on like the locusts that they are.
Has anyone obtained info from the family? I’m curious about an appropriate next step.
FYI all of her attorney’s contact info can be found in the signature block of the complaint in the federal lawsuit.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/08/26/GalvestonCops.pdf
This doesn’t surprise me so thanks for getting this out to as many people you can..This stuff is so sickening and I do hope someday we will be better people….in general..
Dorothy from grammology
http://grammology.com
OMG! I heard about this, it’s such as shame that those cops would do this.
Wrong location, wrong suspect, No ID, false arrest, and battery on a minor. What’s even more appalling is the police attorney is blaming the child and the parent.
i couldn’t help myself, this people are going to hear from me tommorrow. i’ve already sent them two emails expressing how appalling i find this situation, but that is not enough. did yall read about the ABUSE this poor girl recieved:
“ Plaintiff was hysterical and holding on to the tree with one arm; two officers were striking Plaintiff’s child be head, face and throat at the time”
“The officer hit Plaintiff in the back of head with a flashlight, hit her neck, throat, slapped her across the face, and told her to get off the tree.”
“Plaintiff’s ear drum and nose were also injured (blood in ear, bruised nasal septum, and nose bleed).”
all because she wore short tights. these people will be getting a phone call from me. they also said this poor baby had severe nightmares after the assualt, it just isn’t right. three adult males to one female minor
I have a feeling this is worse than it looks. I wonder if this was an attempted kidnap and rape gone bad. Let’s say the “white prostitute call” was even legit. I think they eventually came into that area, saw this innocent little girl in her “short tight pants” and somebody got an idea. When things went down not according to plan, they tried to use the coincidental “prostitute call” to help cover up.
Their story don’t fly with me, and why did they try to cover up her mouth. They would never do that to a real prostitute because everyone in law enforcement knows they bite, and they are possible disease carriers.
Someone needs to check up on possible links with “law enforcement” situations like this, and all these missing black girls we here about.
crazy story. I agree that the story doesn’t fly.
I hope that girl knows how heroic she was to scream and all. It was scary moment, for sure. Thank God she had her daddy to protect her.
How sad. I feel for that little girl. I’m sure she was raised to trust in the police to protect her as everyone else was. How could she trust in them now?
It’s amazing how any numbskull can get a badge nowadays.
Sigh.
Thanks for keeping us informed.
this story has been picked up by Jezebel.com:
http://jezebel.com/5114260/report-police-targeted-preteen-in-prostitution-raid
Good! I hope all of the world learns about this foolishness! I am going to address some of the issues Jezebel addressed related to people comparing her to Tawana Brawley on Monday. I already wrote the post.
This is just another case of institutional racism. And it is really quite prevalent. Note the case of the Muslim woman here in GA who was arrested because she would not remove her traditional religious head dress. What about freedom of religion? Looking at these cases makes one ask what about freedom in general. This is not Russia, China, or Cuba. This is the UNITED States of America. But know this, you can fight back and I’ve posted a few tried and true ideas on how. LOL
I agree with La Icognita et al.
I think this was an attempted kidnapping and rape.
Is there something that we, as readers and black women can do to help this family?
@Blue N Catfish I called her attorney’s office yesterday to ask about a legal defense fund, he hasn’t returned my call, but I will try again after the holiday.
Many Texas dads would have shot any attempted kidnappers dead on the spot then maybe inquired as to their identity…later. Too bad this gentleman was not packing heat.
And just before Christmas… that should be added to the defence… Think of all the future Christmases blemished by the memory of hiding in your home and cringing every time you hear a police siren…
Hold on…… this happened two years ago in September… my bad…
Has anyone read the rest of the story about her dad being convicted for 2 years for possession of cocaine?
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=5d4ba68d7a96ebc0
There’s probably a reason why the family doesn’t want to make this story public. maybe they want to keep it quiet.
I also wonder if the police targetted the girl because they knew of the dad’s drug use and used the girl to get to him? Or to blemish her image to show the courts what a bad influence he is. If that is the case, then the officers are really low. Either way, they are just so wrong.
Hey……this is Texas…what do you expect. Maybe the should execute the cops like they do everyone else. That state NEVER fails to shock me.
I just read the article and was so disturb by it all. I cannot believe that such a thing could happen and nothing is done about it. One would think that you are back in the 50ties or 60ties. My question is “who is in control in that city. If the first incident was not enough, the mayor allow the ignorant police to go into the school and make drama all over again. Something must be done and very soon. If there is any action or movement being developed regarding this issue, please post or email me at “ticker411@yahoo.com.
And by the way, I email the city of galveston prior to writing this post.
If I heard my daughter screaming like that I’d have been on a dead run with a 12 guage semi-automatic shotgun. If they didn’t follow my commands exactly there’d have been three dead men in the yard in 3 seconds. Then I’d call the FBI and get them involved.
Never think for one second the police are your friends or that you can trust them completely . These 3 are perfect examples of how people go wrong on the job or slide through the screening process.
Who gives a good Goddamn if her dad did do time for drug possession or what ever? There is no excuse for what these 3 assholes did to this 12 year old girl. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if they were looking for a young piece to rip off. God knows there’s enough of them who take sexual advantage of prostitutes in exhange for staying out of jail.
We should pray, love, and support the young girl.