EXCLUSIVE: Video shows Sugar Land police place teen who just suffered seizure in choke hold
SUGAR LAND, Texas - Part of an incident where a 16-year-old girl, who just had a seizure, was placed in a chokehold, then slammed to the ground by Sugar Land police, was caught on camera.
The family spoke exclusively with FOX 26.
"If they had kids at home, and someone did that to their kids, they wouldn’t be okay with that. So I don’t know why they thought it was okay," said 16-year-old Michelle Cummings.
Michelle was finishing her Saturday shift at Jack In The Box on Crabb River Road in Sugar Land. Minutes following her seizure; her father Michael Cummings just arrived to pick her up, he says she had no idea where she was at or who anyone was, so they called 911.
"I'm not in my body I guess, I don’t know what’s going on, I'm not coherent. I just, I don’t know what’s going on," Michelle explained.
When police and fire crews arrived, Michelle was still suffering from memory loss following her medical episode and she didn’t want anyone to touch her. Video shows a female officer eventually place Michelle in a chokehold and then taking her to the ground.
"She was walking around on the inside of the building and that’s when the two officers appeared, and she was trying to walk to the bathroom and that’s when the female officer grabbed her and put her hands around her neck. She pushed her into the cash register counter and into the wall three times, all while having her hand around her neck" said Michael Cummings.
He says they told the officer many times that she was a minor, and that she was having a seizure. Her father says he pleaded with the officers to let her gather her bearings. When Michelle came back into her right state of mind, she only knew what happened from the bruises left on her body and after watching the videos.
"She had bruises on her arm, and then there were bruises on the side of her face," said Michael Cummings.
Michelle says she was shocked after watching the videos and learning what happened.
"Seeing that, and just seeing myself get thrown around like that and I didn’t do anything wrong, it hurt," said Michelle.
This was the third time in recent weeks that Michelle suffered a seizure; her father shared paperwork with FOX 26 showing the medical diagnosis from Memorial Hermann Sugar Land. We asked Michael what was going through his mind as he watched the incident unfold.
"Why did I call 911 or why did I request to have 911 called?" he replied.
Michael says when he tried to intervene to help his daughter, a male officer grabbed him and held him back. As a father, he just wishes that the officers would’ve shown a bit more compassion.
"My daughter is 16 and this goes for any child that is out there, they should never have to deal with this," he said.
Michael filed a complaint against the officers involved. We reached out to Sugar Land police, and they confirm that officers responded for a medical call. They say they are actively investigating what happened and can’t comment any further at this time.