The family of a Granger man arrested last month is questioning whether Williamson County sheriff’s deputies had sufficient grounds to stop and arrest him after responding to a report involving a Dollar General store.
A relative who contacted the Williamson Reporter said deputies responded to the store June 14 after employees reported that they had asked an individual to leave. According to the relative, employees did not know the person and could not identify him to deputies.
The relative alleges that a responding deputy reviewed previous calls involving the store and concluded that the individual might be the relative’s brother. Two deputies then reportedly located the man walking along State Highway 971 elsewhere in Granger.
According to the family’s account, deputies stopped the man and asked him to identify himself, although at least one of the deputies was already familiar with him.
The relative said the encounter escalated after the man expressed frustration with the deputies. He was arrested on allegations that included failure to identify with fugitive intent, two counts of harassment of a public servant and resisting arrest.
Those allegations have not been independently verified, and an arrest does not establish guilt.
The family disputes the deputies’ version of events and argues that the man was improperly detained before his arrest. The relative also said the resisting arrest allegation arose after the man refused to enter a patrol vehicle.
The man is a Navy veteran whose mother died June 3, less than two weeks before the arrest, according to the relative.
The family also raised concerns about subsequent court proceedings, saying the man was declared incompetent after he told a judge he could not answer whether he understood the charges against him. The relative contends that he was questioning the reason for his arrest rather than demonstrating an inability to understand the criminal proceedings.
Competency determinations involve specific legal and medical standards and cannot be established solely from a defendant’s disagreement with the charges or refusal to cooperate.
The relative said the man has remained unable to post bond and has refused to sign paperwork. The family also sought the arrest report under the Texas Public Information Act but was informed that the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office had asked the Texas attorney general for permission to withhold some or all of the requested records.
The Williamson Reporter is reviewing the allegations and has contacted the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office for the arrest report, booking information and its response to the family’s claims. This article will be updated as additional verified information becomes available.
Williamson Reporter 