College kid claims he was beaten by officer.
Days after protests to the not guilty verdict in the Chad Holley beating case, a local college student now claims he's a victim of excessive force by Houston Police.
Matthew Carvin says he was just a passenger in a vehicle pulled over after a house party where the 20-year-old admits he was drinking.
He can't remember all the details, just that he claims woke up with a concussion, fat lip and swollen eye which needed stitches.
"They tried to get me out of the car, yelling 'get of the car, get out of the car,' and I was just sitting there," Carvin told Houston's Morning News. "I think they thought I was being noncompliant so they just figured they throw me out of the car because I wasn't doing what they were telling me to do."
Carvin was charged with drinking and driving. The police report says he jumped into the driver's seat and had to be subdued. It’s something Carvin denies, but also can't remember.
His attorney Sam Cammack says either way, his client didn't deserve to be beaten. In fact, Cammack smells a possible cover-up, pointing out Carvin wasn't taken to the hospital until HPD first dropped him off at the Montgomery County Jail.
"I wouldn't doubt that one bit, that the police officer didn't want to deal with what he would have had to deal with if he would've taken him to a hospital in Houston and booked him at the Harris County Jail," says Cammack. "Then he would have been directly responsible and accountable for whipping that little kid."
Local activist Quanell X says none of what happened to Carvin makes any sense to him.
"This is a young African-American kid who is a college student, never been in trouble a day in his life, not even a traffic ticket," says Quanell. "This is a model young man, they charged him with a DWI and he was sitting on the passenger side."
Carvin's lawyers hope the officer's dashboard camera will tell the rest of the story.
Calls seeking comment by Houston Police were not returned, but Cammack says HPD's Internal Affairs is investigating.
