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Silvester Hayes (left) spoke about his arrest and (right) pictured on bodycam footage during the Oct. 16, 2021 incident at issue in his federal lawsuit.
A 27-year-old Texas security guard who lost his job and his home after he was wrongfully arrested in 2021 is suing the city of Dallas and multiple police officers for jailing him even after one of them exclaimed “F—, we got the wrong guy,” realizing the spelling of his first name was not the same as the domestic violence suspect they were looking for.
Silvester Hayes filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Oct. 16 against Dallas Police Department officers Walter Paul Guab, Holly Harris, and 10 Does, for allegedly violating 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and his Fourth and 14th Amendment rights on the morning of Oct. 16, 2021, while the single father of four was on his way to pick up French toast and bacon for his kids.
“While driving to get his children’s favorite breakfast meal of French toast and bacon at a restaurant that was located only a few blocks away from his residence, Plaintiff Hayes was racially profiled, followed and then pulled over by Defendant Officers Harris and Guab,” the lawsuit began.
Hayes’ lawsuit said he had “never been arrested in his life” and attributed being falsely accused to racial profiling. The individual that cops were looking for had a first name spelled “Sylvester” rather than “Silvester,” the lawsuit said.
“Rather than run a check on Plaintiff Hayes’ driver’s license through the Dallas Police Department’s database that was accessible from the computer in her Dallas Police Department cruiser, Defendant Officer Harris erroneously informed Defendant Officer Guab that Plaintiff Hayes was wanted for a family violence warrant,” the lawsuit said. “Without verifying the erroneous information that was hazardously provided to him by Defendant Officer Harris, Defendant Officer Guab marched back to Plaintiff Hayes’ driver’s side window and without explanation proceeded to reach inside Plaintiff Hayes’ vehicle to open the driver’s side door.”
Hayes also alleged that telling the officers he had a handgun “lawfully registered in his name” inside his car was quickly used against him when several other unnamed officers arrived on the scene:
In their rush to join the fight, Defendant Dallas Police Officer DOES 3 Through 10 did not consult with Defendant Officers Guab and Harris and did not bother to ascertain that the now visible gun in Plaintiff Hayes’ vehicle was fully disclosed to Defendant Officer Guab and Harris and was in fact a lawfully registered weapon. Therefore, it was no surprise that the Officers erroneously presumed that a young black man with a gun was posed a threat and one or more of the Defendant Dallas Police Officers DOES 3 through 10 frantically started yelling “Gun!”
In a proverbial case of gasoline being poured on a fire, having multiple Dallas Police Officers yelling “Gun” only escalated the Officers’ use of excessive force on Plaintiff Hayes.
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Once Hayes was hauled into the back of a police cruiser, the lawsuit said, officer Holly Harris “finally checked Plaintiff Hayes’ driver’s license through the Dallas Police Department’s database” and audibly stated on bodycam footage, “F—, we got the wrong guy.”
The complaint alleged that the officers Guab and Harris injured Hayes by “(1) kicking, punching, and tasing Plaintiff Hayes, (2) pinning Plaintiff Hayes with their knees on his skull, neck and back; (3) pulling Plaintiff Hayes’ arm out of his shoulder socket.”
Although a police sergeant in charge apologized to Hayes for “his team roughing him up,” Hayes went to jail for days for resisting arrest and unlawful possession of a weapon based on the “misrepresentations and false representations” of Guab and Harris, the lawsuit alleged. As a result, Hayes said, he lost his job, his home, and his ability to provide for his kids.
“Because Plaintiff was a security guard and his employer did not tolerate his being absent from his job for any reason, Plaintiff Hayes was terminated from his security guard job,” the lawsuit said, alleging the incident caused a “downward spiral that would continue wreak havoc on his life for the next fourteen months” — until the charges were dropped.
The lawsuit alleged three counts in total. The first two counts — excessive force in violation of the 14th Amendment, and unlawful arrest in violation of the Fourth Amendment — were filed against officers Guab and Harris. The third count, also a Fourth Amendment claim, was filed against the City of Dallas.
The lawsuit, signed by Hayes’ Texas counsel Mark Robinius of Robinius, Espinosa & Wietzel, LLC, seeks a jury trial, damages, and punitive damages for alleged conduct that “constitutes malice, evil intent, or reckless or callous indifference to Plaintiff Hayes’s federally protected rights” and the resulting emotional distress, physical injury, economic damages, and deprivation of liberty.
The plaintiff’s lawyers are also seeking attorney’s fees and costs.
The Dallas Police Department declined to comment to Law&Crime, given that the litigation is pending.
Read the lawsuit here.
