GALVESTON, Texas — An apparent case of mistaken identity in Galveston landed a man in jail for days in May after police thought he was an escaped prison inmate.
Jeremi Cummins' lawyer said a police K-9 even bit off half his ear during the arrest.
Cummins claims he was just leaving the hospital when he was ambushed by police.
Video from a surveillance camera outside of UTMB in Galveston shows police pull up beside Cummins, who they thought was an escaped inmate.
“He’s telling them, I’m not an escaped inmate, I know what you’re trying to do, but I’m not an escaped inmate,” said Cummins’ attorney, Alberto Ruiz.
But officers continue to follow him before releasing the K-9.
Cummins said he knew the worst thing he could do is run.
“Everybody knows, that if you’re an escaped inmate, they’ve got the right to shoot you on sight. Especially if you run,” Cummins said. “I’ve got mental problems, but I’m not crazy, I didn’t run.”
The K-9 bites Cummins multiple times before he’s tackled to the ground by officers and handcuffed.
“I’m not a f****** inmate man,” Cummins says in the video.
Soon after that, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice officer walks up to the scene.
“I asked you where you came from and you took off running,” the officer said.
“I don’t even know you b****, what’d you stop me for?” Cummins replied. “What the f*** are you stopping me for?”
In a second body camera video, a UTMB police officer admits they made a mistake.
“You ready to hear this?” the UTMB officer asks the person on his radio. “So TDCJ sees this guy wearing scrubs and wearing like a blanket. They think he’s one of theirs. They go after him thinking it’s a prisoner, but it ain’t nobody, it’s just somebody who just left the ER.”
After all of that, Cummins, who was just walking home after he was released from the hospital, was taken to jail.
“Despite all of the information, they charged him with evading arrest and took him to jail,” Ruiz said.
Those charges were ultimately dropped.
The UTMB Police Department would not comment on the incident.
“On May 8, 2022, TDCJ correctional officers noticed a non-TDCJ patient of UTMB walking suspiciously toward the prison side of the hospital. UTMB police were notified and responded.”
Cummins and his attorney are seeking damages from the hospital’s police department and an apology. If their demands aren’t met, the attorney says they’ll be filing a federal lawsuit.
“They made a mistake and they’ve got to pay,” Cummins said.