Twist in case of two Baytown officers indicted for felony assault after brutally beating Kedrick Crawford

A Texas motorist was beaten and tased during a parking lot search before felony assault charges against two officers were dismissed, records show.

Kedrick Crawford, 45, was sitting in his car in Baytown, Texas, when officers initiated the encounter.

Just after midnight on July 6, 2019, Baytown police officers approached Crawford as he sat in his vehicle in an H-E-B parking lot on Garth Road, records show.

Crawford agreed to allow the officers to search the vehicle.

“When am I free to go?” Crawford asked one of the officers. “Whenever man, whenever,” the officer replied, and within about five seconds, Crawford was being taken into custody instead.

Officers claimed Crawford resisted, according to police accounts.

He was thrown to the ground, struck with closed and open hands, and placed in a chokehold, incident documentation states.

Officers tased him multiple times because the taser was not working, according to records.

It took around four minutes for the officers to get both of his hands cuffed, records state.

Crawford was left with a gash on his face, scrapes, and severe bruising around one eye, according to reports.

Crawford was “sent to a jail for the first time with his eyes swollen shut. Made to maneuver through the jail blind,” his attorney later said.

Officers searched the vehicle and located pills split into small bags, records show.

Crawford said the medication consisted of antibiotics prescribed for a spider bite, which he had separated so he could track his dosage.

Crawford was never charged over the pills. Instead, he was charged with assaulting a police officer over a scratch, records show.

In July 2021, two years after the arrest, a grand jury indicted officers Teddy Sims and Samuel Serrett, court records show.

A detention officer who was also present was indicted alongside Sims and Serrett on first-degree felony aggravated assault charges, prosecutors said.

“Nobody is above the law, including those who have a duty to enforce the law,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said at the time.

In February 2024, nearly five years after the arrest, the criminal charges against Sims and Serrett were dismissed, records show.

The dismissal came after both former officers completed a pre-trial diversion program, according to records.

Neither can ever work as a police officer in Texas again, and both surrendered their state licenses, records state.

Neither officer served a single day behind bars, according to records.

Asked if he felt any closure, Crawford answered, “Oh, no. I feel worse than the night it actually happened.” He said it felt like the officers “got a better deal than I did.”