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Attorneys Address Public Monday After Horseback Officers Lead Man by Rope

The department is ending the practice

The police chief of a Texas Gulf Coast city has apologized after two white male officers mounted on horseback led a black, handcuffed trespassing suspect by a rope through downtown streets.

Photos of the Saturday arrest were widely circulated on social media, with many commenting on the appearance of a black man being led by mounted officers through city streets. Galveston police Chief Vernon Hale said in a statement Monday that while his officers used a technique that's acceptable in some situations, such as with crowd control, they "showed poor judgment in this instance and could have waited for a transport unit at the location of arrest."

Hale said his department has "immediately changed the policy" to prevent further use of the technique.

The officers had linked the rope to handcuffs worn by 43-year-old criminal trespass suspect Donald Neely and led him to a mounted patrol staging area.

Neely is free on bond.

Attorneys representing Neely spoke to members of the media on Monday.

Attorneys representing Donald Neely spoke to members of the media on Monday.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and criminal defense attorney Melissa Morris spoke about the Aug. 3 arrest of Neely.

"When those white police officers on horses... dragged this unarmed black male who was suffering from a mental illness, attached to a rope, down the streets of Galveston, Texas, it was like he was dragging our entire community down the street by a rope," said Crump.

Attorneys called on the Galveston Police Department to release the body camera video from the officers involved.

Neely's brother and sister also spoke to the crowd explaining that he was not a bad person, but just mentally ill.

"The way they drug my brother down the streets just really tore my heart. I was just in shock and I am still in shock. I cannot believe that they would do this to my brother," said Neely's sister.

Chief Hale told The Galveston County Daily News that he regularly talks to his officers about how their actions affect people's perception of the department.

"You have to be aware of the images we portray," he said. "We talk about it when we talk about use of force, when we talk about vehicle pursuits. Quite frankly, I never would have dreamed of it in the context of mounted officers."

Mary Patrick, president of the Galveston chapter of the NAACP, told the newspaper that the department had an obligation to explain the officers' actions to the public. Patrick later said she had spoken with Hale and the police chief had the NAACP's support.

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