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Teen files lawsuit against the Temple Police Department for excessive force

Posted at 10:04 AM, Jan 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-27 14:33:31-05

The Carson Law Firm issued a statement Monday confirming they're filing a lawsuit against the Temple Police Department and the City of Temple after a minor was badly burned from being ran over by a police car.

The incident happened on Jan. 25, 2015.

The law firm states the juvenile suspect was hit after allegedly fleeing the scene of a home invasion in the 1200 block of West Avenue E around 9:30 p.m.

The lawsuit accused Officer Bret McCune of intentionally hitting the teen suspect while pinning him underneath the patrol car.

The suspect suffered 3rd degree burns from his chest to his thighs because of the engine heat.

Records said that neither of the officers attempted to turn off the engine or move the vehicle off the teen for more than 10 minutes after the incident.

The families lawyer Robert Ranco said there could have been action taken to prevent the amount of burns the boy received. 

"This young man had on a shirt and a jacket there was some time before his flesh got burned, It had to burn through that stuff first before he was going to get serious burns," Ranco said. 

The law firm states that the teen’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments were violated which involves the right to be free from excessive force and deliberately causing bodily injury.

There are two officers included within this lawsuit. Officer Bret McCune no longer works for the Temple Police Department.

However, Officer Carmen DeCruz is still carrying out his duties as an officer for Temple PD. 

Temple Police officials and the city attorney declined to comment concerning these allegations, due to the pending litigation. 

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