HOUSTON — Shanita Terrell believes someone spiked her drink the night she stopped by a Houston bar in 2020. Intoxicated and disoriented, she remembers little of what happened after that. A married mother of two who had recently moved to the city, Terrell did not know the Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputy who approached her in full uniform. Deputy Mark Cannon, working off-duty as a security guard at the bar, handed her a bottle of water before escorting her outside and encouraging her to go home with another law enforcement officer – a man she did not know. Hours later, Terrell woke up in pain.
What happened in between — reconstructed through the plaintiff’s allegations in court records and disciplinary rulings in police internal affairs files — raises questions about the supervision of law enforcement officers in off-duty environments and what recourse citizens have when something goes wrong.
Cell phone video of Shanita Terrell recorded by Harris County Deputy Mark Cannon in February 2023. Provided by attorney Randall Kallinen…