Activists rally behind couple's HPD brutality allegations

Annika Lewis addresses a news conference Sunday along with her husband, Sebastian Prevot, center, and activist Deric Muhammad. She said officers beat her when she used her phone to video her husband's arrest. Annika Lewis addresses a news conference Sunday along with her husband, Sebastian Prevot, center, and activist Deric Muhammad. She said officers beat her when she used her phone to video her husband's arrest. Photo: James Nielsen Photo: James Nielsen Image 1 of / 11 Caption Close Activists rally behind couple's HPD brutality allegations 1 / 11 Back to Gallery

A woman who says she was beaten by police last week after she tried to record the brutal arrest of her husband joined activists Sunday to blast the Houston Police Department and call for an investigation.

Annika Lewis, 26, said she was in her home on the 5000 block of Madalyn, near the University of Houston, when she heard screaming about 2:30 a.m. She went outside to find police officers punching, kicking and hitting her husband with a baton.

Lewis said she began recording the incident with her cell phone video camera, but one of the more than 20 officers in front of her home twisted her hand behind her back. Another officer grabbed her by her hair and forced her to the ground, she said.

Lewis - who is 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 103 pounds - said she was punched in the face before being placed in a police car. She said police took the memory card out of her phone before they left it in her home. Lewis' husband, 29-year-old Sebastian Prevot, also sustained injuries, and was treated at Ben Taub General Hospital for a torn ear that required stitches.

Houston Police Department spokesman Kese Smith would not comment on the allegations Sunday.

"We would urge them, or anyone who feels they were treated inappropriately by an officer, to contact the internal affairs division and file a formal complaint," Smith said, adding that alleged acts of misconduct cannot be investigated without a formal complaint filed by a witness or a person involved in the incident.

Houston Police Officers Union President Ray Hunt cautioned that allegations of excessive force and police misconduct are often found to be untrue.

"There's always two sides to the case and it's very unfair to only try one side of that," he said. "Until both sides are aired here, let's withhold judgement."

Police 'tackled him'

Prevot's attorney, Robert Collier, said a patrol officer attempted to pull over Prevot around 2 a.m. Friday after he passed a white line before stopping at a stop sign within three blocks of his home. Prevot pulled over in front of his home and got out of his car with his hands up, Collier said. He was unarmed and behaving lawfully, but police "rushed him and tackled him to the ground," Collier said.

"They proceeded to beat him," he said. At least 10 police cars converged on the home during the arrest, Lewis said.

Hunt said a large response to a scene where an officer might have voiced confusion about a driver's conduct would not be unusual.

"You have to look at the whole picture when you're placing yourself in an officer's shoes in a case like this," Hunt said. "The officer has no idea what to expect."

The alleged beating came just one day after activists held a community town hall with members from HPD and the FBI, where participants encouraged residents to use cameras to record suspected police misconduct, said activist Deric Muhammad, who participated in the town hall.

'Didn't get the memo'?

HPD Assistant Chief Daniel S. Perales was at the event to represent Chief Charles McClelland, Muhammad said. "Chief Perales personally told me that they've informed the officers to be alert that they will be being recorded and that they have been informed not to impede citizens from recording their police work, but evidently the officers that beat my sister down didn't get the memo," said Muhammad, who is not related to Lewis. "There's obviously a disconnect between the rank and file and the leadership at HPD, and because there's a disconnect we are suffering."

Lewis had contacted HPD's internal affairs division and asked about filing a complaint, but said she felt she was being intimidated when a sergeant offered to drive her to police headquarters to submit it.

"All I have to say is that I do not trust the police anymore," Lewis said.

The couple decided to instead call on the FBI to launch an investigation into the incident and the HPD's conduct in black communities, Muhammad said.

All of the officers who responded to the scene were white, Lewis said.

Prevot was out on bail Sunday after he was arrested and charged with a felony of evading arrest, according to court records.

zain.shauk@chron.com

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