HOUSTON (AP) - Three Houston police officers who were accused of beating the father of Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver have filed a defamation lawsuit, saying Marvin Driver Jr. and activist Quanell X made false statements about the November arrest.
Marvin Driver, the player's father, has said he didn't lie about the incident. Quanell X said Friday he only repeated what the Driver family told him and had no reason not to believe Driver was telling the truth.
"This is another attempt by the police who use whatever means necessary to silence a police critic," Quanell X's attorney, Randall Kallinen, said.
Marvin Driver was arrested outside his mother's Houston house in November on outstanding traffic warrants. Police have said he was unresponsive when he arrived at a jail. On the advice of a jail doctor, he was taken to a hospital.
Marvin Driver said that after he was stopped, officers Gilberto Cruz, Bacilio Guzman and Matthew Marin beat him, forced open his mouth and made him swallow cocaine or crack.
Cruz, Guzman and Marin filed their defamation lawsuit earlier in the week, saying they had "endured shame, embarrassment, humiliation, and mental pain and anguish." The lawsuit also said they had lost income and earning capacity because of the alleged defamation.
The officers were placed on administrative duties in November while police investigated the accusations made by Driver.
In December, the Houston Police Department said an internal investigation concluded they "could not prove or disprove" allegations that Driver, 56, was severely beaten and injured before being taken to jail Nov. 17. Police said the claims have been ruled as "not sustained."
The Houston Chronicle reported the Harris County District Attorney's Office is investigating a complaint from the Houston Police Officer's Union that Marvin Driver committed perjury or filed a false report when he signed a sworn affidavit and made official complaints about the beating.
