Woman files lawsuit after arrest for Facebook post concerning Trinidad water supply issues

TRINIDAD, Texas - A Facebook post about problems with the City of Trinidad's water quality led to the arrest of a resident, who says she's filed a lawsuit against the city after calling the arrest "political retaliation."

Trinidad woman arrested over Facebook post

What we know:

Police in the City of Trinidad, located in Henderson County around an hour south-east of Dallas, arrested Jennifer Combs on May 8 and charged her with felony false alarm or report.

Her arrest stems from a Facebook post she made on her ‘Southern Belle Watch' account, where she claimed that the city's water issues had led to hospitalizations due to bacteria.

The post, in part, reads:

"We have received reports that some citizens have been hospitalized due to bacteria in the water. This is a serious public health concern that deserves immediate attention. If your water looks discolored, contains sediment, has a strong odor, or you have experienced related health issues, please send us a message. We are gathering information and reporting findings to the state."

The Trinidad Police Department, in an Apr. 6 Facebook post of their own, said Combs wrote "false information that creates fear, panic, or unnecessary emergency response within a community."

A May 10 post from Trinidad Police Chief Charles Gregory doubled down on the decision to arrest Combs.

Gregory claimed the case was "cut and dry," and Combs' claims about hospitalizations "are simply false and have only caused unnecessary fear and confusion in our community."

"I feel like this is an extreme stretch"

What they're saying:

"It was probably one of the most humiliating things I’ve ever gone through in my entire life. It was very, very bad."

Combs, who tells FOX 4's David Sentendrey she's never received a speeding ticket, calls the ordeal of spending the night in jail "horrifying."

"I feel like this is an extreme stretch," Combs said of her arrest.

"There’s people that are saying that their appliances are getting ruined, they can’t cook with the water, they can’t bathe with it, they can’t do laundry," she continued.

"A lot of them feel hushed, and like they don’t have a voice and no one listens to them and no one takes them seriously."

Combs says multiple citizens had posted to Trinidad PD's Facebook page stating they were hospitalized or affected by consuming the city's water.

Trinidad water issues

Dig deeper:

Images provided to FOX 4 show brown water coming from faucets in sinks and bathtubs within the community. 

Combs described the city's water supply as looking like "the Trinity River is flowing from their water taps."

A water boil had previously been issued for Trinidad on Apr. 21, several weeks after both Combs' post and the Trinidad Police Department's post. The boil was lifted on Apr. 23.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) confirmed to FOX 4 it received a complaint regarding the water quality in Trinidad, and that an investigation is ongoing.

"A struggle, without question"

Local perspective:

Trinidad officials did not deny that the city is struggling with its water supply. Dennis Haws, the Mayor of Trinidad, told Sentendrey on Tuesday that the city's water pipes date back to the 1950s.

"We have to get to a position where we can fix that infrastructure, and it’s very expensive as I’m sure you can imagine," Haws said. "The city’s water situation is a struggle, without question."

Haws would not confirm if anyone had gotten sick from drinking the city's water, but says there have been discussions on creating a committee to focus on the water issues.

At a Trinidad City Council meeting on Tuesday, the city's water issues were a hot button topic.

"The reason why everyone is here and the reason why FOX 4 is here, is because your city is acting like tyrants," one resident said.

Police Chief Gregory was not present at Tuesday's meeting.

What they're saying:

"I really haven’t seen anything like this before."

Dale Carpenter, a constitutional law professor at SMU, questions whether a crime was committed by Combs, and believes her First Amendment rights may have been violated.

"She’s making a statement regarding a matter of great public interest and so people sometimes make false statements on matters of great public interest, and they’re allowed to do so."

What's next:

Combs has since filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Trinidad, which includes Chief Gregory, another member of the Trinidad Police Department and a Trinidad City Council member.

The lawsuit states that Combs was arrested in "an act of deliberate political retaliation."

CJ Grisham, the attorney representing Combs in the case, provided the following statement to FOX 4:

"The City of Trinidad has become a cautionary tale of what happens when unchecked ego masquerades as governance. At the center of this ongoing constitutional crisis is the case of Jennifer Combs, whose unlawful treatment by city officials exposed a pattern of corruption, retaliation, and abuse of power that has infected the entire municipal apparatus. Rather than course-correct, city leadership has chosen to double down on its misconduct by engaging in an escalating campaign of retaliatory firings, punishing employees whose only offense was bearing witness to the truth or refusing to participate in the cover-up. The bitter irony is that the only individuals in this saga who have earned termination are Police Chief Gregory and City Councilwoman Marie Bannister, whose reckless abuse of authority and personal vendettas are not merely destroying careers: they are dismantling the institutional trust, public safety infrastructure, and financial stability of an entire community. Trinidad deserves leaders who serve its people, not officials who sacrifice them on the altar of wounded pride."

TexasEnvironment