Transgender man sues Houston police over 'real man' comments, insults

Kris Smith has launched a lawsuit against the city. Kris Smith has launched a lawsuit against the city. Photo: Kris Smith Photo: Kris Smith Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Transgender man sues Houston police over 'real man' comments, insults 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Houston police hurled hateful insults at a transgender man while arresting him on a trumped-up trespassing charge that was later dismissed, according to a lawsuit filed recently in Harris County.

Officers taunted Kris Smith for not being a "real man" in a "jaw-dropping" barrage of insults, the 38-year-old told the Chronicle.

Eventually prosecutors dropped the charge. Smith is suing the city and arresting officers, alleging wrongful arrest and false imprisonment, in a suit seeking up to $1 million in damages.

Smith's fiasco started last December outside a Montrose-area Burger King.

"My girlfriend lives around the corner from there and I was leaving her house when I took a phone call for a job and walked around back behind the Burger King," Smith said.

As he chatted during the 15-minute phone call, he noticed a police car pull up in front of a man who appeared to be homeless, sitting in the corner of the parking lot.

Smith decided it was time to make an exit and started walking away - but the officer beckoned him over.

"He said, 'Turn around,' and started handcuffing me and I asked what for - and he said trespassing charges," Smith recalled.

Officers later said that a Burger King manager had called in the trespassing complaint, but Smith says no one ever bothered to come outside and ask him to leave. Smith maintains he was not even on the property at the time of the arrest, but was outside a small wall around it.

Police took in the other man, too, and dropped him off at a downtown jail without incident.

But once the other accused trespasser got out of the car, Smith's ride took a turn for the worse, according to the lawsuit.

Fearing safety issues at a men's facility, Smith told the cops he was transgender and would probably need to be taken to a women's jail.

"They told me they don't care if I [don't] have a penis, they'll put me in the guys' side anyway," he said.

On top of the alleged verbal onslaught, Smith was handcuffed but not belted to the seat. He ended up with a bruised nose, swollen and bruised wrists and a swollen bicep, according to the lawsuit.

The police made the trip "a pretty rough ride," he said.

Police have a very different account of the day's events.

According to sworn statement by authorities read aloud in court, Smith was sitting on the curb drinking a beer when police showed up, Harris County District Attorney spokesman Jeff McShan said.

The statement says Burger King manager Tiffany Ross told police she'd asked Smith to leave the premises after catching him panhandling in the drive-through line.

Smith called the police account "complete made-up craziness."

Ross failed to show up in court, however, so prosecutors eventually dismissed the case.

Smith's lawyer, U.A. Lewis, filed suit last month but she admitted it could be challenging.

"The city will likely claim immunity and the officers will also claim their immunity, so the case is going to be difficult," Lewis said.

Burger King, which is also named in the suit, did not respond to a request for comment.

Smith said that the unwarranted arrest was the worst part of the whole experience - and the transphobic taunting that followed is just a frustratingly normal aspect of being transgender.

"That's a severe bullying technique that they use and they think they can get away with it because it's just conversation," Smith said. "They think it's OK, and it's not OK. It's bullying, and no one deserves that."