Texas Families Want Charges Against Cop who Broke up Pool Party

A Galveston police officer has been fired over the way he violently broke up a children’s pool party.  Now, some of the parents want former officer Jared Rivas criminally charged for his attack on the kids.

The incident happened on June 25^th at the swimming pool of a Galveston apartment complex.  Rivas was working that day as a courtesy officer for the apartment complex.

He allegedly told the children to leave the pool area because they were not residents of the apartments.  As the kids were dispersing they were subjected to what the families' lawyers call “an unprovoked and brutal assault”.

Many bystanders captured the incident on their cell phones, some of which can be seen in this report from FOX 26 news in Houston.

The video shows Rivas punching and kicking the teens and also pinning them to the ground.

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Rivas called for backup and when other Galveston police officers arrived they helped him detain the children.

It is unclear which, if any, of the teenagers lived in the apartment complex.

Mom Heidi Williams says her kids were traumatized: “An officer of the law who the kids are supposed to trust and have faith in and look up to is now harming them and their siblings and friends”.

Parents are suing Rivas, the Galveston Police Department, and the University of Texas Medical Branch hospital. They say the responding officers didn’t do anything to protect the children from Rivas and the hospital staffers refused to treat victims when they learned they were involved in the altercation.

Some of the parents say they are concerned that without criminal charges, Rivas could be hired on to another police department.

The Galveston District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case to see what if any, criminal charges can be filed against the fired officer.