HOUSTON — Former Harris County Treasurer Orlando Sanchez is suing the man who dumped water on him during a news conference in December 2018.
Sanchez wants more than $1 million in damages, according to documents filed in the Harris County 151st District Court.
The protester, identified in the civil lawsuit as Steve Striever, was upset because Sanchez wanted the State of Texas to take over Houston public schools.
The incident happened during a press conference across from Houston ISD’s headquarters.
Protesters disrupted the start of Sanchez’s news conference. When he tried to get it started, the group would chant, ‘Go away, TEA’ and ‘You got voted out.’
Things got heated when he was answering one of KHOU 11’s questions. Someone from the group ran up and dumped water on him.
Someone from Sanchez’s team confronted the man. He ended up on the ground and police were called. Both sides claimed they were assaulted. The news conference was supposed to be for Sanchez to call for the state to take over HISD.
“Taxpayers are fed up and it’s time for the governor and the Texas Education Agency to step up and make sure that children in HISD, which 83 percent of them are minority, get an education,” said Sanchez at the time.