Dallas County Commissioners approved a $25,000 settlement on Tuesday to end the lawsuit by a man whose encounter with a county deputy was live-streamed without his consent.
Tarrant County resident Torry Osby sued Dallas County and Deputy Francisco Castillo after the officer live-streamed his traffic stop on March 2, 2021, The Dallas Morning News reported. Osby was pulled over for speeding and ultimately released with a verbal warning.
According to the complaint, Castillo never informed Orsby that the traffic stop was being live-streamed, and Orsby never gave consent. In fact, he only became aware that his personal information had been compromised after he was contacted by someone who used the information to track him down.
The interaction was viewed by over 100 people on Castillo’s TikTok account. A viewer reportedly used Osby’s license, which was streamed without blurring of personal information, to contact him about the incident.
“Mr. Osby’s personal identifying information, which was shared by Defendant Castillo during the livestream of the traffic stop, included his height, age, date of birth, driver license number, name, address, photo identification, gender, and eye color,” the lawsuit read.
The complaint contended that Osby suffered from “mental anguish” because his confidential personal identifying information had been released without his consent.
Lawyers for Osby claimed Osby was not speeding and was using his vehicle’s cruise control feature at the time of the incident. They alleged Castillo live-streamed traffic stops simply to gain “likes” and followers on his social media account under the username CycoCisco, which he marketed as a law enforcement officer’s site.
A screenshot of the defendant’s account showed that he had over 17,000 followers, according to the complaint. An account’s followers are instantly alerted when a livestream is initiated so they can view it.
Castillo was suspended without pay for two days following the interaction.
The commissioners unanimously approved the $25,000 settlement during their Commissioners Court meeting.
The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to an inquiry from The Dallas Express regarding Castillo’s current employment with the department and the status of his TikTok account.
