Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist
Galveston, TX — Isaac Walton, father of three, is fighting for his life in a battle against leukemia. Now, however, he is also fighting police after he says he was attacked by multiple officers, beaten, tasered, and then dumped at a hospital for no reason.
“They abused their authority, pretty much. Thinking they can do what they want with people,” said Walton, who says cops had no reason to even approach him that day.
The incident happened on August 15 as Walton and his family were staying at a hotel in Galveston to celebrate his daughter’s birthday. Walton left the hotel that morning to go get the family breakfast and he says he stopped briefly at the sea wall to take a stroll.
“Next thing I know, I felt somebody grab me, and I grab my right arm, and this time I realize it’s a police officer,” said Walton. “Immediately I say, ‘Sir, I have a PICC line on this side, and I have leukemia,’ and they didn’t listen to anything I have to say.”
A PICC line, for those who may be unfamiliar, is a catheter implanted in a cancer patient’s arm which is used to administer the chemotherapy drugs.
According to Walton, one officer grabbed him and began beating him while another tasered him. He was then thrown in the back of the squad car.
“The only thing I can think about was trying to get out of that situation safely, without pretty much dying,” Walton said.
“They beat him, they put handcuffs on him, throw him in the back of a car, they don’t charge him with anything, they tell him he’s not under arrest, then they drop him off at an emergency room, and they just leave them there,” said Joe Mathew, an attorney representing Walton said.
After being dumped at the hospital, Walton finally made it back to the hotel where his family found him slumped over in pain. They immediately drove him to MD Anderson Cancer Center where his wife took photos of his injuries and they contacted the University of Texas Police Department who filed an incident report.
Despite not charging Walton with a crime at the time, days later, he’d be charged with resisting arrest — a move Walton says is an attempt to cover up for the officers’ criminal behavior.
“The only ones who should be charged in this incident, are the police officers who did this to him,” Walton’s attorney said.
In response to why they waited several days to issue a warrant for resisting arrest, the police released the following statement:
On Wednesday, August 15th 2018, at approximately 9:57am, the Galveston Police Department received two 911 calls requesting that the police check the welfare of a male, later identified as, 32-year-old Isaac Walton, as he was out on a jetty in the 3000 block of Seawall Blvd. During their encounter with Walton, he refused to follow commands given by Officers to further their investigation and was subsequently arrested for Resisting Arrest and transported him to the Galveston County Jail where jail medical staff refused to accept Walton until he was declared fit for incarceration by an attending doctor. Officers subsequently transported Walton to UTMB and released him, and requested a warrant for his arrest be issued for the aforementioned charge.
The warrant request for the charge of Resisting Arrest, Search, or Transport was completed by the officer on August 15th and was submitted to the court the next morning on Thursday, August 16th. The Galveston Police Department was made aware of the allegations against the officers later that evening, at which point the Chief of Police initiated an investigation into the officers’ conduct. The judge subsequently signed and issued the warrant the following Monday, August 20th at which point the warrant became active and was entered into the state and national registry. Walton was then detained by League City Police during a traffic stop on September 7th, arrested for the active warrant, and transported to the Galveston County Jail.
The internal investigation has since revealed that the involved officers’ actions did not appear to violate policy. To date, Walton has not filed an official complaint with the Galveston Police Department.It appears that there are some questions concerning the timeline of events due to the gap between the warrant being filed, and the arrest. Hopefully this explains the sequence and answers those questions. Since the criminal case is still pending we are not able to comment on the details of the criminal case.
Walton, who is still battling leukemia, says that police fabricated this story to cover up what they did to him.
Even if police were responding to a welfare check request, Walton had harmed no one. How is it somehow considered okay for cops to walk up to an innocent man, begin demanding that he obey their every command, and then beat the hell out of him for not doing so fast enough?
Walton’s family also has a GoFundMe site to help with some of the medical bills.
Walton is now another victim of a system who arrests people for resisting arrest.
I’m no fan of cops but this story…..hmmm…’to date Walton has not filed an official complaint….’