Darren Boykin Settlement: Why the Case Ended Without One

There is no Darren Boykin settlement. The federal wrongful death lawsuit his family brought against three Texarkana, Texas police officers was dismissed with prejudice on June 18, 2024, after a judge granted the officers summary judgment and qualified immunity. No money changed hands, and no officer was disciplined or charged.¹

Why the Case Ended Without a Settlement

Magistrate Judge J. Boone Baxter issued a 71-page report recommending summary judgment for officers Jerrika Weaver, Brent Hobbs, and Sergeant William Scott. District Judge Robert W. Schroeder III overruled the plaintiffs’ objections, adopted the report in full, and dismissed the entire case with prejudice.¹

The ruling turned on two findings. First, the court concluded that the officers did not actually know Boykin was in a medical emergency. His sickle cell trait was undiagnosed, and no one on scene knew he had it. Labored breathing after a foot chase in Texas summer heat, the report said, did not obviously signal a life-threatening condition. The medical risk was “anything but obvious” and did not reach the point where “even laymen would recognize that care is required.”²

Second, even assuming a constitutional violation, the court held the officers were entitled to qualified immunity. That doctrine shields government employees from civil liability unless they violate a right that was “clearly established” at the time. The judge found no prior case law that would have put these officers on notice that their conduct was unconstitutional. Weaver’s decision to transport Boykin to the jail, where a nurse was available, was not objectively unreasonable given what she was found to have believed at the time.¹

Because the case was resolved on summary judgment rather than trial or negotiation, the officers never had to pay damages, and the city never entered settlement talks that reached the public record.

What Happened to Darren Boykin Jr.

Boykin was 23, from Dayton, Ohio. On August 29, 2019, Texarkana College Police confronted him over suspected petty thefts. He ran roughly a third of a mile across a field and into a car wash bay in extreme heat before officers caught him and handcuffed him. He was breathing heavily and telling officers he could not breathe and was in pain.³

Texarkana Texas Police officers Weaver, Hobbs, and Scott responded. Hobbs turned on the patrol car’s air conditioner when Boykin asked but later testified he assumed the distress was exhaustion. Scott, the supervisor on scene, testified he saw no sign emergency medical attention was needed.

Weaver drove Boykin to the Bi-State Jail. Body camera footage released in September 2021 captured her telling him, “You can’t call I can’t breathe after you ran forever and then you have felonies.” When he said he was about to pass out, she told him to lean against the cruiser glass and added, “You know somebody that passes out isn’t able to stop themselves from falling forward right? Fun fact.”⁴ She drove past Wadley Regional Medical Center on the way to the jail and was recorded telling another officer over the radio, “You know how he’s got the felony faint in the backseat? ‘Oh, I’m gonna pass out.’ He’s fine.”⁵

Footage shows Boykin appeared to lose consciousness during transport. When Weaver arrived at the jail and found him unresponsive, she first told him to stop playing and get out. After realizing he was unconscious, she pulled him from the vehicle and started chest compressions. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.⁶

What the Family Claimed

Keisha Boykin, Darren’s mother, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on August 29, 2021, exactly two years after her son’s death. The case, Boykin v. Weaver et al. (No. 5:21-cv-106-RWS-JBB), was brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and alleged that all three officers violated Boykin’s Fourteenth Amendment rights through deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs. It also included Texas wrongful death claims and a supervisory liability claim against Scott.⁷

Attorney James Roberts said the body camera footage told the story: “It was someone who was complaining that they were in distress, that they needed help and they were in a situation where they couldn’t provide themselves with that care.” Co-counsel Scott Palmer pointed out that Weaver had driven past the very hospital where Boykin would later be taken.⁸

The plaintiffs changed during the case. Darren Boykin Sr. intervened in September 2021, alleging officials had concealed the body camera footage. Keisha Boykin died on January 26, 2022, at age 46.⁹ Paris Thorpe, mother of Boykin Jr.’s minor child A.B., was substituted as plaintiff in March 2022 and continued the case both as next friend of A.B. and as representative of the estate.² The 2024 dismissal covered every plaintiff’s claims.

The Autopsy and Criminal Investigation

An autopsy ruled Boykin’s death natural, attributing it to “complications of sickle cell trait.” The medical examiner found that running roughly a third of a mile in Texas summer heat had triggered a fatal sickle cell crisis. The family disputed that framing, arguing the officers’ failure to get him medical care was the real cause.³

The Texas Rangers ran a custodial death investigation. Ranger Joshua S. Mason met with the Bowie County District Attorney’s Office and closed the probe on October 28, 2019, finding no criminal activity. No officer was charged.³

The sickle cell trait finding fits a pattern the New York Times documented across 47 custody deaths of Black individuals over 25 years. The American Society of Hematology has said there is “no medical merit” to citing sickle cell trait as a cause of sudden death in these circumstances.¹⁰

Where the Case Stands

No public records show that Weaver, Hobbs, or Scott faced internal discipline or termination over Boykin’s death. The criminal investigation closed without charges in October 2019, and the civil case ended in the officers’ favor in June 2024. Nothing has been filed on the docket since the dismissal.³

1
Justia. Boykin v. Weaver, No. 5:21-CV-106-RWS-JBB
2
CaseMine. Thorpe v. Weaver, No. 5:21-cv-106-RWS-JBB
3
GovInfo. Thorpe v. Weaver, No. 5:21-cv-106-RWS-JBB
4
Yahoo News. Video Released of Texas Police Arrest of Darren Boykin
5
The Grio. Texas Police Arrest Video Released, Boykin Family Lawsuit
6
NBC DFW. Lawsuit: Texas Officers Ignored Pleas of Man Before Death
7
GovInfo. Thorpe v. Weaver, No. 5:21-cv-106-RWS-JBB
8
NewsOne. I Can’t Breathe: Lawsuit Filed for Darren Boykin
9
Pryor Funeral Home. Keisha Boykin Obituary
10
Scientific American. Some Medical Examiners Say Sickle Cell Trait Causes Sudden Death. They’re Wrong