By Philip Jankowski
Austin American-Statesman
AUSTIN, Texas — Several open carry activists have sued at least 15 Texas Department of Public Safety troopers over arrests at the Capitol that they claim were improper.
The federal suit filed on Tuesday names 15 state troopers — including DPS Director Steve McCraw — and an unknown number of unnamed personnel who were involved in the arrests of seven open carry activists during events in 2013 and 2015, in which the activists wore holstered antique or toy guns on Capitol grounds, the suit said.
Among the plaintiffs are Open Carry Texas founder C.J. Grisham and Texas Carry leader Terry Holcomb. DPS troopers, who oversee security at the Capitol, arrested Grisham and Holcomb in separate instances in 2013. Charges against both men were eventually dropped, according to county records.
In Grisham’s case, the county attorney’s office rejected the charges of criminal trespass and resisting arrest filed by DPS troopers. Grisham, a retired first sergeant with the U.S. Army, was arrested on the north steps of the Capitol in November 2011 when he was with a group of about 20 veterans protesting the previous arrests of other open carry activists, Grisham told the American-Statesman on Wednesday.
Because Grisham had another criminal charge pending in Bell County related to open carry, he was not carrying any firearm. But he did have a blue rubber replica pistol holstered on his hip.
Troopers arrested Grisham after he refused to obey their orders to leave the Capitol grounds. As they arrested him, he continued to tell the troopers that he was not armed, the lawsuit says.
“When law enforcement can decide willy-nilly that they don’t like what you’re doing and tell you to leave, because you have a right to be on public property, we have a problem with this state,” Grisham said, noting that this lawsuit was not about open carry, but about violations of their free speech rights.
A DPS spokesman said the agency does not discuss pending litigation.
The activists claim in the lawsuit that they suffered monetary damages as a result of their arrests. In Grisham’s case, he said the U.S. Army forced him into retirement early, which cut the size of his retirement benefits, he said.
The other plaintiffs are: Amos James Postell, Scott Smith, Jacob Cordova, Travis Kuenstler and Joseph Walker. They have sued the following troopers: Steven McCraw, Jose Ortiz, Rolando Rivas, John Pelath, Dan Bristow, Ryan McKittrick, Roy Lytle, Robert Rosenberg, Roosevelt Hatcher, Eric Brackelsberg, John Land, Eugenio Cruz, M. Eric Peel, Richard Juarez and Scot Houghton.
Copyright 2015 Austin American-Statesman, Texas