LLANO COUNTY, Texas — The Llano County Sheriff's Office and three of its deputies are facing a lawsuit filed by two men who said they were beaten and wrongly arrested in 2019.
The lawsuit, filed on Jan. 2, 2021, outlines the arrests of the two men and states the arrests highlight the hiring and training issues of deputies in the sheriff's office.
KVUE has reached out to the Llano County Sheriff's Office for a statement in response to the lawsuit.
The first incident outlined in the lawsuit involves James Glenn, a veteran with PTSD who said he was in the passenger seat of his son's truck when another car rear-ended them on Jan. 5, 2019. The driver of the other car reportedly started arguing with Glenn.
The lawsuit states that Llano County Deputy Jackson Idol responded to the scene and began arguing with both Glenn and the other driver. Glenn claims that, at some point, the other driver took off from the crash site without giving his insurance information.
Glenn claims the deputy searched Glenn's car, found an empty crushed beer can in the seat and said Glenn would "have to sign a citation for having an open container or Idol would arrest him." When Glenn denied that he broke a law, Idol started to place him under arrest, the lawsuit said. A disability from his shoulder kept Glenn from being able to rotate his arm to be handcuffed.
The deputy is accused of throwing Glenn to the ground and placing him in a chokehold, causing Glenn to fall unconscious. When he regained consciousness, Glenn said he tried to get up and he was repeatedly punched in the face and hands.
Glenn was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer and carrying an open container of alcohol. The lawsuit states the resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer charges were "quickly dropped."
The lawsuit said the arrest worsened his PTSD, caused one of his lungs to collapse and damaged his diaphragm.
Another incident outlined in the lawsuit involves Johnny Spradlin, who called the national suicide prevention hotline for help on Jan. 13, 2019. Later that evening, the lawsuit says Llano County deputies Steve Sifford and John Doe conducted a "welfare check" at his home.
Spradlin allegedly told them to leave, and they responded by asking him to step outside his home. When asked how much Spradlin had to drink that night, he said "none of your [expletive] business," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Spradlin was then placed under arrest, slammed to the ground and stunned with a Taser. All his charges, including public intoxication, resisting arrest and attempting to take a weapon from an officer, were later dismissed, the lawsuit claims.
The sheriff's office and Llano County had a mental health officer on staff but did not call him to respond to Spradlin's mental health crisis, the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit goes on to say that these are not isolated incidents for the deputies or the Llano County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff's office has a history of employing officers with excessive force histories and failing to train them, the lawsuit claims.
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