Visitor from Austin to Houston Receives Rough Welcome from Houston Police Officer

Harold McMillan Roughed-Up By Houston Police Officer

Houston, Texas

Harold McMillan made his way from Austin to Houston, following the death of his brother. A week later, McMillan, went to pick-up his brother’s personal items from a hospital. McMillan, the founder of the Austin nonprofit DiverseArts Culture Works, says he visited Memorial Hermann's Texas Medical Center location to retrieve the brother’s wallet.

McMillan says he had cleared the visit with someone at the hospital's guest services department, who indicated that he could pick-up the wallet at a security checkpoint near the emergency room, and that they'd have all the necessary paperwork. Sounds pretty simple, right?

As it turns out, according to McMillan, things didn’t go as smoothly as he had been led to believe they would. Frustrated with a security guard’s inability to find any information on his brother or the wallet, McMillan asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor confirmed the existence of the wallet, but said they were not authorized to hand it over to McMillan. So, McMillan asked to speak to someone higher on the command chain. Apparently, the security supervisor didn’t appreciate this.

"At that point, he started chastising me about my bad attitude," McMillan told The Houston Press.

The two men continued to argue, before more security officers and a Houston police Officer appeared from behind a checkpoint door. The Houston police officer said to McMillan, “We need to talk to you back here.”

McMillan, not knowing the reputation of the Houston Police Department, made the mistake of questioning the officer. Those of you aware of HPD’s reputation can probably guess what comes next.

"The next thing I know, he's got his arms...through my arms and my back...and I'm up off the ground," McMillan says. The cop, per McMillan, walked him through the door, admonishing him not to "resist," and then, "the next thing I know, he slammed me to the floor, face first."

McMillan says that, while he was asking the officer if he was under arrest, and what the charge might be, the supervisor told him that this probably wouldn't have happened if McMillan didn't have a bad attitude. He also suggested that it may have turned out totally different, McMillan says, if McMillan had been wearing a suit, or at least a shirt and tie, instead of his cargo shorts and flip-flops.

McMillan was escorted to jail and charged with "interference with public duties," a misdemeanor. Specifically, the charging document reads that McMillan interfered with the officer's duty by "refusing to follow verbal commands, pulling his hands away, and refusing to put his hands behind his back."

An HPD spokesman told The Houston Press that, according to the arrest report, McMillan used "abusive language" toward both the hospital employee and the officer. "We are aware of the incident," Victor Senties says. He added that McMillan has not filed a complaint with the Internal Affairs Division, and that complaint forms are available on the Department's website, or can be made in person or through advocacy groups such as LULAC and NAACP.

Many would probably remind Harold that it could have been worse...