Dickinson police officer facing charges for “abuse of an elderly person” from 2022 arrest UPDATE: Sgt. Michael Kinsley turned himself in at the Galveston County Jail just before noon on Friday (2/23/2024) and was released on bonds totalling $7,000. A Galveston County grand jury on Thursday indicted a Dickinson Police Department Sergeant on the misdemeanor charge of Official Oppression and a felony charge of Assault of the Elderly for his role of shoving a 65-year-old man during an arrest in 2022. Michael Kinsley was a patrol officer on February 26, 2022, when he encountered Michael Scurlock, 65, in the parking lot of Family Dollar in the 3900 block of state Highway 3 in Dickinson. Scurlock was riding a bicycle and was involved in a minor crash with a vehicle. That's what prompted the police call to the scene. It was during that encounter that Kinsley’s body camera captured him throwing Spurlock to the ground before handcuffing him. The city-ordered investigation alleged that Kinsley misled paramedics who came to the scene about Scurlock’s condition. Scurlock suffered a brain bleed and was in and out of hospitals and nursing homes for about a year before he died. An internal investigation by former Police Chief Ron Morales and his internal affairs officer Frank Price reportedly cleared Kinsley of wrongdoing. Mayor Sean Skipworth last year said Morales told city officials that Scurlock’s injuries occurred in the crash. Still, a Dickinson police officer came forward and told city officials that the actual outcome of the situation was far worse. That prompted city officials to hire a private investigator to review the incident. The report from private investigator Jessie Prado took the Dickinson Police Department to task for what was labeled a botched internal investigation. It wasn't until that report was presented to Dickinson City Council the incident became public. Prado turned up what he said was a deliberate attempt by then Chief Ron Morales to withhold essential information from the city council. Morales denied the internal affairs investigation swept the issue under the rug. Morales was eventually forced to resign after a disagreement with how personnel were assigned after the city budget called for changes in the police department's ranks. The investigation seemed closed until some Dickinson officers came forward and said Kinsley used excessive force. That’s when the city’s attorney tasked Prado to investigate the incident. That investigation turned over lax internal affairs investigation The scathing report accuses Morales of poor leadership and said the internal investigation was lacking. Scurlock spent two weeks in the intensive care unit with a brain trauma. Then came 10 months in hospitals and nursing homes before he died. The Galveston County Medical Examiner ruled that Scurlock’s death was due to Parkinson’s and made no mention of the head trauma as a contributing factor in his death.

Posted by i45NOW TJ Aulds at 2024-02-23 00:07:31 UTC