Kedric Crawford Settlement: Fifth Circuit Appeal Dismissed

There is no Kedric Crawford settlement. Crawford, the Orange, Texas man beaten by Baytown police officers in a grocery store parking lot in July 2019, sought more than $1 million in a federal civil rights lawsuit, but the case was dismantled by procedural failures long before a jury could weigh the allegations. In March 2026, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed his appeal for lack of jurisdiction, and no public record shows any settlement or damages award from the City of Baytown, Harris County, or any of the individual officers.¹

What the Lawsuit Was About

On July 6, 2019, Crawford stopped at an H-E-B on Garth Road in Baytown to set his GPS while traveling to visit his mother in Houston. Baytown Officer Teddy Sims approached his vehicle, and officers received consent to search it. According to court filings, officers then threw Crawford to the ground, punched him, struck him multiple times with a stun gun, and placed him in a chokehold. Detention officer Shane Dunlap allegedly used his arm to apply pressure to Crawford’s neck.² Crawford was booked into jail with his eyes swollen shut. He was charged only with assaulting a police officer, and that charge was dropped in October 2019.³

Crawford’s federal civil rights suit, Crawford v. Sims (No. 4:20-cv-03003), was filed under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging excessive force in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. It named Sims, Officer Samuel Serrett, Shane Dunlap, the City of Baytown, Harris County, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, and several other officers and officials, and it included a Monell claim against the city.⁴

Why the Case Never Produced a Settlement

The lawsuit ran into trouble almost immediately. Crawford’s attorney, U.A. Lewis, filed two additional related suits that U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes determined were an attempt at judge-shopping. In March 2021, Hughes sanctioned Lewis, ordering her to pay the defendants’ attorney’s fees and costs and to complete 10 hours of continuing legal education on federal rules and civil procedure. Hughes noted that Lewis had misspelled her own client’s name in one filing, which prevented the clerk’s office from linking the cases.⁵

After the cases were consolidated, the court set an October 5, 2021 deadline for Crawford to serve all defendants. He missed it, even after multiple extensions. On December 16, 2021, Judge Hughes dismissed 13 defendants for failure to serve process, including the City of Baytown, Harris County, Sheriff Gonzalez, Serrett, and both Dunlaps.¹ That single ruling eliminated every deep-pocketed defendant from the case. Only Officer Teddy Sims remained, with cross-motions for summary judgment on qualified immunity later filed. The available records do not show how those motions were resolved.

The Fifth Circuit Dismissed the Appeal

Crawford filed notices of appeal on February 7 and February 10, 2025, trying to challenge the December 2021 dismissal and other rulings. On March 20, 2026, the Fifth Circuit dismissed the appeal in a per curiam opinion for lack of jurisdiction.¹

The court identified two fatal problems. Federal rules require appeals within 30 days of the order challenged, and Crawford’s notices came more than three years after the December 2021 dismissal. Even accounting for an administrative stay that ran from March 2022 to March 2024, the filings were still late. The panel also called the appeal “disjointed” and “vague,” saying it could not tell which specific orders Crawford meant to challenge.¹

What Happened to the Officers Criminally

The criminal side produced consequences for the officers, but nothing that put money in Crawford’s hands. A Harris County grand jury indicted Sims and Serrett in July 2021 on charges of aggravated assault by a public servant. Shane Dunlap was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.²

On February 16, 2024, prosecutors dismissed the charges against Sims and Serrett after both completed a pretrial diversion program. As part of the agreement, they permanently surrendered their Texas Commission on Law Enforcement licenses, meaning neither can work as a police officer in Texas again. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office said cases like these are “notoriously difficult to prosecute” and framed the resolution as ensuring “these men will never again be allowed to wear a badge.”³ The pretrial diversion did not include restitution or any payment to Crawford. Dunlap’s case remained pending with a jury trial scheduled for March 22, 2024; the available research does not include the outcome.²

Where the Case Stands Now

The civil lawsuit against the City of Baytown, Harris County, and most of the individual officers was thrown out on procedural grounds before any court examined whether excessive force occurred. The criminal cases against two of the three charged officers ended in diversion, not a verdict and not a plea that paid Crawford anything. Lewis said in 2024 that she intended to keep litigating the remaining claims against Officer Sims, particularly on qualified immunity.³ The district court case was terminated as of February 2026, though the docket shows some activity as recently as mid-2026, and the precise mechanism of termination is unclear from available records.⁶ No settlement figure, no jury award, and no consent judgment appears in the public record for Kedric Crawford.

1
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Crawford v. Perkins, No. 24-20521
2
Houston Public Media. Assault Charges Dropped Against Two Baytown Police Officers Alleged to Have Beaten Man
3
ABC13. Baytown Police Officers Teddy Sims and Samuel Serrett Accused of Assault, Charges Dismissed
4
CourtListener. Crawford v. Sims
5
Houston Chronicle. Federal Judge Sanctions Houston Civil Rights Attorney
6
PACER Monitor. Crawford v. Sims et al