Otto the Watchdog Lawsuit: Royse City, Denver, and Trinidad Cases

Winston Wesley Noles, the citizen journalist known online as Otto the Watchdog, has filed three main federal civil rights lawsuits over arrests and use of force he says were retaliation for his First Amendment activity: a 2020 case against Royse City, Texas officers that resolved in 2023, a Denver protest case that produced a $79,000 settlement in his favor in 2025, and a new May 2026 suit against the City of Trinidad, Texas. Together, the Otto the Watchdog lawsuit record runs from a highway sign arrest in 2018 to an active case now pending in the Eastern District of Texas.

Who Noles Is and What He Does

Noles describes himself as a syndicated journalist and cop watcher. His work involves filming police in public, holding provocative signs, and testing the limits of protected speech, with the encounters posted to a YouTube channel under the name Otto the Watchdog.¹ That activity is the through-line of every lawsuit he has filed.

The Royse City Case: Noles v. Dial

In December 2018, Noles was on a public highway in Royse City, Texas, holding signs with profane and satirical messages and filming himself. According to his federal complaint, Officer Nick Dial approached him, asked to search the signs, then punched them out of his hands and arrested him. A second officer, Keith Short, turned Noles’s tripod-mounted camera away from the scene.²

Noles filed suit on December 18, 2020, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, alleging violations of his First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. In August 2021, a magistrate judge recommended dismissing the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment claims (which Noles had abandoned) with prejudice, and dismissing the prior restraint and right-to-redress claims without prejudice. The First Amendment retaliation claims against both officers survived. The court found the officers were not entitled to qualified immunity on those claims, citing established precedent recognizing a First Amendment right to record police performing their duties in public.²

The court referred the case to a magistrate for a settlement conference in January 2023, shortly after the defendants had filed a summary judgment motion. The docket shows the case terminated on April 15, 2023. No settlement amount appears in the public record.³

The underlying state charges — disorderly conduct, interference with public duties, and a separate felony connected to a camping incident with his children — were pursued by Rockwall County prosecutors for roughly three years. Noles refused a plea offer that would have carried no jail time and no fines, saying he would not admit to crimes he did not commit.⁴

The Denver George Floyd Protest Settlement

Noles was one of five plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against the City of Denver arising from the 2020 George Floyd protests. He alleged that a police officer shot him with pepper balls while he was speaking into a bullhorn, causing serious bruising and permanent scarring, and that the officer “was under no threat and was simply punishing the protesters for their political beliefs out of anger.”⁵

On June 9, 2025, the Denver City Council unanimously approved $398,500 in settlements across the group. Noles’s individual share was $79,000. The other plaintiffs received amounts ranging from $35,000 to $135,000.⁶

The Trinidad, Texas Lawsuit

Noles’s active federal case is Noles v. City of Trinidad, et al., Case No. 6:26-cv-00221, filed May 14, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Two days earlier, on May 12, Noles had traveled to the small East Texas town to protest the police department’s handling of a water-quality dispute. After entering City Hall that day, he was arrested on a public sidewalk and cited for disorderly conduct under Texas Penal Code § 42.01(a)(1), the offensive-language provision.⁷

The complaint names five defendants: the City of Trinidad; Chief Charles Gregory; Sergeant Robert McCumsey; Officer Cameron Beckham of the Trinidad Police Department; and Officer Derrick Hocutt of the neighboring Malakoff Police Department. It brings four counts under 42 U.S.C. § 1983:

Count One alleges unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment, claiming the arrest lacked probable cause.
Count Two alleges unreasonable prolonged seizure, based on Noles being held in a patrol vehicle for at least 20 minutes while officers processed paperwork.
Count Three alleges First Amendment retaliation and viewpoint discrimination targeting his political signs and criticism of police.
Count Four alleges municipal liability against the City of Trinidad, including failure to train, with Chief Gregory identified as the final policymaker.

Noles seeks declaratory and injunctive relief along with nominal, compensatory, and punitive damages. The disorderly conduct charge against him was later dismissed by a municipal judge.⁷⁸

All defendants have appeared through counsel and were granted until July 10, 2026, to file their answer to the complaint.⁹

The Trinidad Backdrop

The Trinidad case sits inside a larger dispute. In April 2026, resident Jennifer Combs was arrested on a felony “false alarm or report” charge after using her Facebook page to collect neighbors’ reports of discolored water, odors, and health problems. She spent nearly a day in jail. A grand jury declined to indict her for insufficient evidence, and the city issued a boil water advisory roughly two weeks after her initial post. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality opened an investigation into the town’s water supply.¹⁰¹¹

Combs has filed her own federal lawsuit alleging political retaliation. A separate wrongful termination suit, Estrada et al. v. Dosier et al., Case No. 6:26-cv-00245, was brought by former city water clerk Colby Reyes and her brother Alex Estrada, who say they were fired the morning Reyes refused to support a version of events that would have helped justify Noles’s arrest. That case is active in the same federal court, with defendants’ answer due by July 20, 2026.⁸¹²

Chief Gregory resigned from the Trinidad Police Department with a final day of June 19, 2026, citing the pending lawsuits and saying he had “nothing to hide” regarding the Combs and Noles arrests.¹³ Mayor Dennis Haws has suggested the Texas Rangers should investigate the police department and the water situation, though no such probe has been publicly confirmed.⁸

1
The Real News Network. Exposed Police Corruption
2
GovInfo. Noles v. Dial, Civil Case No. 3:20-CV-3677-N-BK
3
CourtListener. Noles v. Dial Docket
4
The Real News Network. Cops Want Him to Plead Guilty to See His Kids, but He’s Fighting Back Instead
5
Denverite. George Floyd Protest Settlement
6
Denver Gazette. Denver to Pay $399,000 to Settle Police Liability Case
7
Watchtower CI. Otto Noles Federal Lawsuit Trinidad Police
8
Fox 4 News. Trinidad Water Issues Lawsuit Wrongful Termination
9
PACER Monitor. Noles v. Gregory et al
10
Fox News. Texas Mom Jailed Over Dirty Water Facebook Post
11
San Antonio Express-News. Trinidad Texas Water Arrest Lawsuit
12
PACER Monitor. Estrada et al v. Dosier et al
13
Fox 4 News. Trinidad Police Chief Resigns Free Speech Concerns