Federal jury awards former Harris County deputy constable $1.65 million in racism case

A federal jury in Houston handed former Harris County Precinct 3 deputy constable Bert Whittington III a $1.65 million award after finding he was harassed by supervisors because of his race, a verdict that now reaches beyond one employee’s fight and into the culture of the county’s law-enforcement ranks.

Whittington, who is Black, began working for Harris County in January 2017 after more than two decades in the Marine Corps, graduation from the state police academy and service as a state trooper. About four months into his Precinct 3 tenure, he was assigned to the Crime Interdiction Unit as a police canine handler.

Court records cited in a 2025 Fifth Circuit opinion describe Whittington’s allegations against what he called a “small clique” of officers in the Precinct 3 Constable’s Office. That opinion said the group excluded darker-skinned coworkers and used racist language, including allegations that officers called African Americans “a bunch of monkeys,” routinely used the n-word and described a police vehicle as a “slave transport.” The opinion identified Sherman Eagleton as the elected constable at the time.

Whittington also said the retaliation began after he complained about discrimination. According to the court record, supervisors opened investigations and disciplinary actions against him, including inquiries into three incidents in which his police canine bit people. ABC13 Houston reported that Whittington later said members of the department made disparaging remarks about George Floyd after Floyd’s death and used the word “monkeys” during a COVID-19 testing event attended mostly by Black people.

The jury did not side with Whittington on every claim. ABC13 reported that jurors found racial discrimination in the department but did not find that he proved his wrongful-termination claim. Court records cited in that report said Whittington failed to wear a body-worn camera twice and mishandled evidence before he was fired in 2020.

The case also left questions about who inside Precinct 3 knew what, and when. A later Houston-area report said Eagleton and two supervisors were originally named in the lawsuit but were dismissed from the case, even though the two supervisors still worked for Precinct 3 in Texas Commission on Law Enforcement records. The Harris County Attorney’s Office did not respond to an inquiry from ABC13, and Precinct 3 referred questions there.

For Harris County, the verdict is more than a legal loss. It puts a public price on allegations that workplace bias, weak accountability and retaliation culture may have undermined trust inside a law-enforcement office that relies on public confidence to recruit, retain and protect whistleblowers.