The case against an indicted Houston police officer was dismissed Monday after another grand jury absolved him of the use of force allegation with new evidence, according to officials.

The officer, Shane Privette, was charged in June with aggravated assault by a public servant for the injuries during a 2017 undercover drug buy that left Dwayne Walker with a broken eye socket and bruises to his face. The grand jury that signed off on the indictment had been asked to examine the circumstances behind the incident and the severity of Walker's injuries, which were visible in a booking photo, officials said at the time.

A second grand jury who convened Monday determined that the indictment was not warranted based on the new evidence, according to Harris County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Dane Schiller, who said he was prohibited from elaborating on the nature of the evidence.

At the time of the indictment, Houston Police Officers' Union President Joe Gamaldi declared that Privette had done nothing wrong. He painted the officer as a decorated five-year veteran of the force and Walker as a career criminal with a lengthy rap sheet. He cited the Internal Affairs Division probe that in 2018 found no indication that Privette was in violation of HPD’s use of force policies while arresting Walker, whom Gamaldi said he kneed repeatedly in the side and face as he attempted to flee.

Gamaldi said Tuesday that his office provided the DA’s office with a copy of HPD’s use of force policy and experts on the subject ahead of the second grand jury. Shiller was also unable to say if that documentation was used as evidence.

Aaron Suder, Privette’s lawyer, said that prior to the indictment, only a portion of the results from the internal investigation — and none of the separate Special Investigations Unit probe — were handed to the DA’s office for a review. The second SIU investigation would have included documents on police training that authorize the knee strikes that Privette used in the arrest, Suder continued, as well as statements from academy trainers.

“We always felt that Shane had done absolutely nothing wrong,” Suder said Tuesday. “(The grand jury) did not have all they need to make an accurate decision.”

In light of the dismissed case, Suder expects Privette to soon return to work.

After the arrest, Walker pleaded guilty to the charge of manufacturing and/or delivery of less than a gram of a controlled substance in March 2018. He is being held at the Stiles Unit in Beaumont, court records show.

According to court records, the injuries from the arrest left Walker hospitalized for at least two days. He missed his probable cause hearing and complained in a December 2017 letter that he suffered a "broken left eye socket caused by H.P.D."

nicole.hensley@chron.com