A Texas man walked into Midland City Hall looking for a simple form so he could sue the city.
He left in handcuffs, eyes burning from pepper spray, and later cuffed to a hospital bed, with a heart condition and no charges filed.
That’s the outrageous scene captured on video that’s now lighting up social media.
Vicente Jimenez III had been pestering City Hall for months over a “Notice of Claim” form tied to an alleged civil-rights beef with local cops. City officials insist no such standardized form even exists under Texas law. They say they told him repeatedly, even escorted him to the police department to help. Still, on July 2 he showed up again, parked himself in a public area, and spent roughly half an hour talking with Strategic Communications Director Stewart Doreen.
According to the circulating footage and the city’s own account, Jimenez never raised his voice or threw punches. He just wouldn’t leave when staff decided they’d had enough. Enter Officer Sanchez.
The female Midland PD officer arrives, tells him to get up and go outside. He asks if he’s being trespassed. She says no. He stays put. She grabs him. He resists being yanked from the chair. Seconds later she unloads a faceful of pepper spray, inside a public government building, then has him hauled out in cuffs.
Jimenez later said he was worried about the extreme Texas heat because of his heart condition. He was taken to the hospital, reportedly handcuffed to the bed, treated, and then released the same day with zero charges. No ticket. No arrest. Nothing.
The city is standing by its officer. Officials claim Jimenez’s behavior “became increasingly aggressive” and “disruptive,” that staff felt threatened, and that he “actively resisted” efforts to remove him. They insist they made every reasonable effort to help him first.
Critics looking at the video aren’t buying it. The clip shows a seated man asking questions, not swinging fists. The officer never clearly announces he’s under arrest or being trespassed before the spray flies. And when the dust settles, the city itself decides there was no crime worth charging.
This is the kind of encounter that makes taxpayers wonder what the hell is going on inside their own City Hall. A guy asks for paperwork that may not even exist, sits quietly longer than the staff likes, and ends up chemical-weaponed in a public building, only for everyone to later admit there was nothing to charge him with.
Midland officials say they’re committed to “courteous, respectful service.” The video makes that claim look like a bad joke.
Jimenez wanted a piece of paper so he could sue the city.
Instead he got a face full of OC spray and a hospital bill. And the cops still couldn’t find a single charge that would stick.
