Williamson County Sued After Sheriff's Deputy Allegedly Forced Woman To Help Handcuffed Boyfriend Urinate

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TX — A sheriff's deputy is at the center of a federal lawsuit alleging he forced a woman to help her handcuffed boyfriend urinate on the side of a building after being arrested, according to a published report.

Dennis Farmer, a 51-year-old disabled veteran, and Linda Schlueter, filed the suit on Wednesday against Deputy Damon Grant and Williamson County, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

Neither Sheriff Robert Chody nor county spokeswoman Connie Watson provided the newspaper with comment about the filed litigation after being reached by the Statesman on Thursday. Chody declined to questions related to what the policy of the sheriff's office about letting detainees use the bathroom.

Farmer's attorney alleges the sheriff's deputy refused to allow Farmer to use the bathroom, saying "either he pees in his pants or you do this," according to the suit. The lawsuit seeks damages of more than $200,000 but less than $1 million.

The incident occurred in early February 2016, when the deputy pulled the couple over in a car on Pond Springs Road near Cedar Park for driving with non-working headlights, the Statesman reported. Farmer was subsequently arrested on an unrelated charge after the deputy checked his background. After being handcuffed, Farmer told he deputy he needed to urinate urgently.

That's when the choice of either soiling himself or having his girlfriend help him was allegedly brought up, according to the lawsuit. The pair's attorney said he waited a year to file the lawsuit to allow county officials and the sheriff to launch an investigation and detail the policy related to allowing arrested people to go to the bathroom, neither of which happened, the attorney said.

>>> Read the full story at Austin American-Statesman

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