Judge Accused Of Evading Arrest

HOUSTON -- A Harris County municipal court judge who is suing the Harris County Sheriff's Office has been arrested again, KPRC Local 2 reported.

Judge April Walker, a lawyer and Texas Southern University law professor, was taken into custody on an evading arrest charge Wednesday night at the Harris County Jail. She posted bond around 1 a.m. and was released shortly after.

After her release, Walker said, "It was another horrible experience."

Her attorneys, Rodney Moton and Lloyd Kelley, told KPRC Local 2 that Walker was arrested after she went to check on her son when she learned he was being arrested down the street from her home.

Walker's attorneys said she tried to talk to her son and sheriff's deputies ordered her to leave the property, which she did. She returned and when she left again, she was pulled over and arrested.

She said she was not aware that an officer had asked her to stop.

"I put the car in reverse, I never saw him, never said anything to me. There were no words exchanged at all," Walker said.

Walker said that the sergeant had some strong words once he caught up to her in her driveway to arrest her.

"He said, 'Give me your hand (expletive).' And he said, 'Oh, that's right. You're a judge,'" she said.

According to the complaint filed by the sheriff's office, "the defendant knew that the complainant was a peace officer attempting to detain the defendant and the defendant used a motor vehicle while she was in flight."

"It wasn't until she disregarded our sergeant's orders to stop, drove down a street backwards, ran through a stop sign that anybody from our department tried to detain her or stop her," said Capt. John Martin with the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

"We think once all the facts come out, our client will be vindicated and the sheriff's department will be exposed for their wrongdoing," said Moton, Walker's attorney and brother-in-law.

Moments after Walker's release, Moton picked her up in his car. Sheriff's deputies pulled them over around the corner from the jail and issued Moton several traffic tickets.

In January, Walker was arrested on charges of impersonating a public servant. She was acquitted of the charges.

Walker is among a group of people suing the sheriff's department, claiming they were terrorized by deputies after filing complaints.

"This was clearly retaliation," Kelley said. "They knew who she was and said some derogatory remarks about her."

"There is no indication from what I've seen in the reports that suggests that anybody on the scene knew who she was at the time of this incident," Martin said.