The Houston Police Department has discharged a probationary officer following a probe into past use-of-force incidents during his previous tenure as a Harris County detention officer. The investigation was spurred by footage obtained and released in December by KHOU 11 Investigates which revealed two separate occurrences involving the officer, Deven Ortiz, using force against handcuffed individuals.
In the initial video from October 2023, Ortiz is depicted alongside another detention officer hitting a handcuffed inmate in the head while directing him to sit on a bench in a holding cell. A second video, dated January 2024, shows a handcuffed incarcerated woman being shoved against a wall and thrown to the concrete floor twice by Ortiz. These incidents prompted separate internal affairs investigations within the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, and findings were forwarded to the Harris County District Attorney’s office to determine the appropriateness of criminal charges.
Despite resigning in April from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office amid an unrelated investigation that concluded with a recommendation for his termination, Ortiz’s law enforcement career briefly continued. He was subsequently accepted into the Houston Police Academy, graduating in November, and began serving as a police officer on probation. An announcement on Thursday by Houston Police, however, asserted that Ortiz had been informed of his termination from the department, as per FOX26 Houston…