Robert Threadgill, 80, said he suffered serious injuries while being detained by Hays County Sheriff’s deputies on June 22. (Photo courtesy of Facebook)

by BRAD ROLLINS

An 80-year-old man and his son lodged formal complaints on Monday, claiming they were roughed up without justification last month by Hays County Sheriff’s Office deputies responding to a dispute between neighbors in Woodcreek.

Robert Threadgill and Stephen Threadgill, 56, say they were thrown to the ground and dragged by deputies while being detained on June 22 following an argument between the elder Threadgill and an employee of The Lodge at Cypress Creek next door.

Ambulances on the scene took both Threadgills to Central Texas Medical Center in San Marcos, where they were treated for what they characterize as serious injuries. Robert Threadgill said he suffered cuts and bruises and badly sprained his ankle; Stephen Threadgill said he suffered a concussion and cuts to his face.

“I’m 80 years old. I don’t need to be beat up for no reason. I mean it was 100 percent unprovoked,” Robert Threadgill told the Hays Free Press.

Both men were cited on the scene for disorderly conduct by profane and abusive language, a Class C misdemeanor. Nearly two weeks after the incident, authorities charged Robert Threadgill with a Class A misdemeanor, resisting arrest. Threadgill turned himself into authorities on that charge July 7 and was released on $3,000 bail.

Sheriff Tommy Ratliff has declined to be interviewed about the confrontation but said through spokesperson Lt. Leroy Opiela that an internal investigation of the incident did not find wrongdoing on part of the deputies, whom the sheriff’s office is refusing to name.

“The sheriff has looked at the reports and stuff and, baring something that he’s not seeing, he doesn’t see that we overreacted or did anything wrong,” Opiela said.

In a written statement, Opiela said deputies responded to a call of a “verbal disturbance” at Marina Circle in the tiny incorporated subdivision where Robert Threadgill owns a condominium in a complex adjoining the the lodge.

While deputies were interviewing the complainant, Opiela said, Threadgill approached using profane language and “appeared to be very agitated and at one point postured himself as if he were going to strike the deputies. Deputies attempted to handcuff him, and as he continued to resist, was taken to the ground and handcuffed.”

Then Stephen Threadgill walked up to the group, ignoring warnings from deputies and his father to stay away, Opiela said. He too was “taken to the ground and handcuffed” for ignoring instructions from the officer, Opiela said.

Ratliff, himself a former Texas Ranger, has asked his former agency to review the incident.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Lisa Block said on Tuesday that the rangers are not conducting “an ongoing investigation at this time.”

“The sheriff’s office made a request to the rangers to investigate. Typically what happens is the rangers look at the case and decide if an investigation is merited,” Block said. That determination has not yet been made, she said.