The family of an aspiring rapper plan to sue after an off-duty Dallas County deputy constable allegedly beat the teenager.
The family says Deputy Constable Guadalupe Frias used excessive force when he hit 17-year-old Inabinet Saddler on the head with a baton to break up a verbal argument early Sunday morning. Saddler, nicknamed Lil' Squeaky, sustained a broken eye socket.
After performing at The Mansion, Saddler got into a verbal argument with another teenager in a parking lot across the street from the East Dallas nightclub.
Witnesses said Frias, who was off-duty and working security at The Mansion, came up behind Saddler and struck him with a baton on the right side of his head.
Saddler was knocked out and fell to ground, witnesses said.
Frias first told police he was trying to break up a fight. But Saddler's father, Maurice Paul Jr., who saw the incident, said there was not a fight.
"'What made you do that to him?' He says, 'They were fighting,' and I’m right there looking at them, and they were not fighting," he said.
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Frias later told police he hit Saddler on the arm, not the head.
Dallas County Constable Jaime Cortes said it is not standard protocol to use a baton first.
"In this instance, if there was a fight, then you try to separate them with your hands and move them apart," Cortes said. "Then if you can’t, then you have an option to use your baton or use mace."
Saddlers' family filed a complaint against Frias with the Dallas County constable.
The aspiring rapper's career is now on hold. Lil' Squeaky was set to perform 12 shows in the next two months. Paul said he is afraid his son's head trauma could affect him in the long term.
"Why straight to the head? He really could have killed him," Paul said. "I'm really angry especially because it's an officer and he's supposed to protect and serve and he's supposed to be out there to protect children."
The Dallas County Sheriff's Department and Dallas police are investigating the incident.
"For administrative violations, he could be terminated for that, especially if he has a history of violating them, which he does," Cortes said.
Cortes said Frias, who has been with the department for a year and a half, was suspended for 10 days in December 2009 and was not allowed to work off-duty security for three months after an administrative violation.
Frias is on administrative leave and could be charged with aggravated assault.
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