HOUSTON — A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a woman who was picked up and slammed to the ground during a 2023 robbery in Asiatown.
The jugging attack left the victim, Nhung Truong, a single mother of three, partially paralyzed.
The attacker, Joseph Harrel, was charged with aggravated robbery with serious bodily injury. He accepted a plea deal and a sentence of 30 years in prison. He will have to serve at least 15 years of that sentence before he is eligible for parole.
Now, over a year later, personal injury law firm Kherkher Garcia, LLP. and litigation firm Feldman and Feldman, P.C. have filed a lawsuit against Dun Huang Plaza Association, Inc., the property manager of the plaza where Truong was attacked.
The day before Valentine's Day in 2023, Truong went to a Bank of America to get some cash for a trip to Vietnam where she's from.
Police said after leaving the bank, she made her way to a shopping center on Bellaire Boulevard just inside Beltway 8 where she was followed by Harrell and Zy'Nika Woods.
Police said Truong was walking in front of the shopping center when Harrell got out of a car that Woods was driving and fought with Troung for her purse.
After all of her belongings fell to the ground, police said Harrell picked up what he thought was the money and started running away. When he realized he didn't have the money, he went back to Troung, picked her up, and slammed her to the ground, according to HPD.
He then picked up the envelope with the money and ran back to the getaway car that Woods was driving, police said.
The lawsuit claims property management has failed to keep its premises safe for patrons like Truong. The lawsuit alleges that between Jan. 16, 2021, and Jan. 28, 2024, HPD received about 419 calls for service at the plaza.
Calls for service included reckless discharge of a firearm, aggravated assault, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated robbery, unlawfully carrying a weapon, criminal trespass, criminal mischief and graffiti, according to the lawsuit.
"This was a violent attack. It wasn't 'hand over the envelope' or pushing somebody around, this was an attack where somebody viciously body-slammed someone to the floor, in such a manner that caused spinal injuries, that led to paralyzation," attorney Nicholas Ware said.
The lawsuit is seeking to have Dun Huang Plaza declared a public nuisance and ordered to add more security measures.
The entire incident was caught on a surveillance camera. Watch below.
