Lawsuit on hold as teen's criminal case proceeds | Huey, 18, alleges officer used excessive force, blinding him; defense says body-cam footage tells different story

TEXARKANA, Texas -Proceedings have been halted in a federal lawsuit filed by an 18-year-old man whose eye was struck last year with the full force of a policeman's pepper spray gun.

DaQuan Huey's mother, Miracle Farr, filed the suit last February in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas with the help of Philadelphia-based civil rights lawyer Lee Merritt.

Huey, 17 at the time, said he lost vision in his left eye because of excessive force employed by Texarkana, Texas, Police Officer Scott Lillis.

Lawyers for Lillis have said body-camera video clearly shows Huey was acting aggressively and is to blame for his own suffering. Huey is facing misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest stemming from the Jan. 27, 2019, confrontation. According to police, Huey was among a group of people creating a disturbance that afternoon in the Brookwood Drive area.

Since the filing of the lawsuit, Huey was placed on adult probation in Bowie County for theft of a firearm. That arrest occurred in October 2018. A motion to revoke Huey's probation is pending.

The most serious violation alleged in the motion to revoke is Huey's arrest in October 2019 by Texarkana, Ark., police. Huey is charged in Miller County with attempted aggravated residential burglary, two counts of terroristic act involving an occupiable residential structure, three counts of theft of property and a single count of theft of a firearm. Huey has been held in the Miller County jail since his arrest in October.

Last month Circuit Judge Brent Haltom granted a reduction in Huey's bail from $100,000 to $75,000. Huey is scheduled to appear next week before Haltom for a status hearing.

Huey's misdemeanor case in Bowie County is pending before County Court at Law Judge Craig Henry. The case was scheduled for a jury trial Oct. 29 but Huey's incarceration in the Miller County jail led to a delay in the setting.

Merritt recently filed a motion in the federal suit asking the court to stay the case while the criminal charges pending against him in Bowie and Miller Counties remain pending. U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven granted the motion and entered a stay in the civil suit last week.

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