T wo Black men in Manvel, Texas , were accused of raping a white woman last year, and now, one of them is suing his accuser, the city and its police officers, who he claims arrested him without properly investigating the allegations against him, which surveillance video taken from his home proved were false.
According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, on Nov. 9, 2023, 40-year-old John Marks and his friend, 43-year-old Freddie Douglas Jr., who was a police officer in El Campo, Texas, were accused and charged with sexually assaulting Amanda Zawieruszynski in Marks’ pool while she was attending a party at his new home. About a week after the party, Zawieruszynski filed a police report claiming she was held against her will, and that both men either raped her or attempted to rape her over a time period of several hours beginning that night and into the next morning.
Marks and Douglas were arrested on Dec. 7, 2023, and charged with aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping, felonies that could have earned the men anywhere from five to 99 years in prison. However, a few months later, on March 23 of this year, a Brazoria County grand jury reviewed the evidence presented by the district attorney and declined to indict either of them, issuing a no-bill verdict.
It’s unclear why exactly the grand jury decided not to indict the two defendants, who had been posted bond shortly after their arrest, but it might have had something to do with the video evidence taken from Marks’ home, which his lawsuit claims showed Zawieruszynski arriving at his home with cupcakes and “entering the home with no signs of distress or hesitation.” The surveillance footage also reportedly showed that she got undressed, “willingly” joined the men in the pool, and “appeared to be enjoying herself … engaging in consensual sexual activity with John Marks and later with Freddie Douglas, with no signs of resistance or discomfort.” The lawsuit also claims the footage showed Zawieruszynski “moving freely throughout the house, with multiple opportunities to leave if she had felt threatened or uncomfortable,” contradicting her claim that she had been held against her will for several hours.
The suit goes on to claim that Officer Taner Truitt and Police Chief Thomas Traylor were made aware of the surveillance footage, but they failed to review it or include it in their report to the judge who signed off on their arrest warrant. Truitt “made false and misleading statements to Justice of the Peace Richard B. Davis and omitted material information that, if disclosed, would have prevented the issuance of the arrest warrant” while Traylor “knew or was recklessly indifferent to the fact that Officer Truitt made false and misleading statements in his sworn complaint,” the suit claims.
“Their conduct was driven by a desire to secure a conviction at any cost, rather than a commitment to uncovering the truth,” the complaint stated.
On top of all that, Marks’ lawsuit accuses another arresting officer of using excessive force during their apprehension of the former defendants and tampering with the evidence that proved he and Douglas were not guilty. It accuses an officer identified only as “Officer Ruiz” of using excessive force despite Marks’ not resisting arrest in any way. Ruiz is also accused of altering the settings of Marks’ surveillance cameras from 180 days to 60 days, which the suit said was “aimed at destroying exculpatory evidence and obstructing justice.”
Marks’ suit notes that this was “not an isolated incident” and that his arrest and treatment in custody were “part of a broader pattern of systemic abuse by the Manvel Police Department, which routinely violated the rights of those it detained.”
The case “reflects a time-worn pattern, reminiscent of the injustices depicted in To Kill A Mockingbird , where Black men are falsely accused of sexual crimes by white women, and the machinery of law enforcement is all too willing to proceed without question,” the complaint says.
Iris Bey, president of the Brazoria County NAACP, echoed similar sentiments during a press conference held after the grand jury declined to indict Marks and Douglas, invoking the name that is often the first to come to mind when Black men are falsely accused of sexually assaulting white women.
“From 2024 back to the days of Emmett Till, Black men are still having to defend their life versus white tears,” Iris Bey said before turning to Marks and saying, “That audio and video saved your life. Without it, Brazoria County would have nailed your ass to the cross. Why in 2024 are we still fighting against white fragility?”
Marks is seeking a jury trial and his lawsuit seeks “all available relief from the court against all of the defendants for the alleged constitutional violations, including compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages for lost wages, diminished earning capacity, medical expenses (including psychological counseling and therapy), loss of professional opportunities and standing in the community, social ostracism and damage to personal relationships.”
The data on sexual assaults committed by the police is damning
Statistics suggest that the above case is an anomaly.
According to research published in 2022 by the National Institutes of Health, “police sexual violence” has become “increasingly abundant” in recent years.
The scourge is a “systemic problem,” according to the National Women’s Law Center .
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