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Special Report: Officer Misconduct at CCPD




CORPUS CHRISTI - Last year, at least 22 Corpus Christi police officers were disciplined internally for a variety of offenses.
Six of those cases involved more than just a simple letter of reprimand, including one that left an officer suspended for two weeks.
It was in May of 2012 that three men, Cody Lewis, Ernest Mitchell, and Roderick Hornsby were brought in handcuffs to the City Detention Center.
Lewis was arrested for drug possession.
Mitchell and Hornsby were arrested for interfering with his arrest.
Internal CDC video obtained by Action 10 News shows everything seems to be normal upon their arrival, with the men calmly lining up against the wall to be processed.
But suddenly, an officer throws Roderick Hornsby to the ground and holds him there, even elevating his arms, which is very painful while in handcuffs.
Roderick Hornsby recalls what happened very clearly.
"Knee in back, knee was in my neck, in my ear," he explains.
"He's elevating my arms higher and higher. It felt like 10 minutes, but I think the video shows like 3 minutes or so."
The officer who threw Hornsby to the ground is Senior Officer Norman Morton.
Morton later had to explain his actions to Internal Affairs, after Hornsby filed a complaint about excessive force.
In his recorded interview, Morton said that just before the takedown, Hornsby got very vocal and started to struggle and resist.
"When I put my hands on him to make him turn around, he started to pull and struggle, so I don't know what he's going to do, so the safest and easiest thing to do is put him straight to the ground," he stated.
There is no audio in the video footage from the CDC to indicate what was said between the two men, but Hornsby says he was definitely not struggling or resisting.
"No, I didn't pull and struggle, and you can clearly see in the video I didn't pull and struggle. I was facing the wall. I didn't even turn around at this point," he explains.
Police Chief Floyd Simpson says although a handcuffed prisoner can still hurt an officer very badly, it's clear from the video that excessive force was used in this situation.
As with most discipline cases, a special review committee made up of other higher ranking officers eventually looked at all the evidence from Internal Affairs.
The committee recommended Morton be terminated, for using excessive force, for providing false statements on a police report, and for lying to Internal Affairs.
But Chief Simpson has the final word, and he scaled back Morton's punishment to a 2 week suspension.
Simpson said that although disturbing, he didn't think the incident should have cost the longtime officer his job.
"I have to look at the totality," he says, "Norman has been here a long time. He has served the community well. He has many commendations in his file, and so I think he is salvageable. Obviously, I didn't terminate. He is salvageable. And I think he can go on and continue the public well, just as he has done for many many years."
Hornsby couldn't believe Morton wasn't fired, and worries the same thing will happen to him or someone else again.
"Man, every time I see a cop, I think about this man here," he says.
Simpson says this incident is not an example of what CCPD stands for, and won't be tolerated.
"Did he (Morton) exhibit misconduct in this particular situation? Yeah. Did I act on it? Yeah. Was my discipline to him appropriate? We'll see."
The chief said 'We'll see' because Morton has since appealed his punishment and that process is still ongoing.
Roderick Hornsby has already retained an attorney, who says he expects to file a lawsuit against the City any day.
The criminal charges that lead to Hornsby's arrest in the first place were also dropped.
Two other officers in the room at the CDC that night were also disciplined, for not stepping in or saying anything to anyone afterward about it.
The review committee recommended they be suspended, but Chief Simpson instead issued them letters of reprimand.
We were unable to find out what happened to the CDC employees who also did nothing.