Houston student claims he was harassed by deputy while mowing lawns

A Houston college student said he was harassed by a Harris County deputy constable while mowing lawns in his own neighborhood. 21-year-old Marlin Gipson claims he was targeted because of his race in Houston's Willow Springs subdivision.  His viral video of the incident has been viewed thousands of times on social media, and now the constable's office is responding.

Marlin and his brother had been going door-to-door in that neighborhood, handing out business cards for a lawn service.

In the video, Gipson claims he's being harassed by the deputy, and you can hear Gipson asking for the officer's name.

"My hands was up surrendering" Gipson claims the deputy profiled him, He later claimed deputies used excessive force when police canines bit him, and he was tased in his home.

"I was tased. I'm no threat. Why tase me? And why intentionally? If you tell a dog to sick somebody, he's going to come across more aggressive," said Gipson.

"It really incenses me to have somebody say they were targeted because of their race."

Precinct 1 constable Alan Rosen is defending that deputy, saying he was assigned to the area because of recent crime in that neighborhood. According to Rosen, when Gipson was asked to identify himself, he allegedly lied about his date of birth.

"He falsified who he was, which is going to raise the concern of any officer," said Rosen.

"We don't know if he was knocking on doors--only to go around when someone didn't answer to break into the back of the house. We have no way of knowing," Rosen continued. 

Deputies say Gipson had several outstanding warrants, and they say he ran from the scene.  Police say when they went to his home later, he was hiding in a bathroom.

"We told him for different times, we yelled, police dog, police dog. Come out." However, Gipson's attorney contends that the deputies were out of line. He maintains that the whole incident crossed the line, because deputies initially had no real reason to approach Gipson. 

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