KILLEEN (October 2, 2009)--Catherne Marie Galloway, the mother of a 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier who was shot to death in March by a Killeen police officer who police officials said was dragged by an SUV while trying to arrest a fleeing suspect has filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that witness accounts contradict the official version of what happened.

The suit against was filed on Sept. 29 in U.S. District Court on behalf of the mother and 2-year-old son of E3 Jarvis Galloway, who was assigned to Fort Hood’s 157th Quartermaster Company.

It names the City of Killeen and Killeen officer James Plank who shot Galloway to death early in the morning on March 21.

Killeen police officials said Plant fired the fatal shot while he was being dragged by an SUV that Galloway was driving.

Plank was injured in the incident and required hospital treatment, police said.

Catherne Galloway’s attorney, Mark Hefter of Austin, said Friday, however, that witnesses to the incident don’t support the police account of what happened.

“The eyewitnesses state that at the time of the shooting Mr. Galloway’s vehicle was not moving and that, in fact, he had taken his hands off the steering wheel and put them up in the air,” Hefter said in a press release Friday.

“The witnesses also state that when they told this to the law enforcement investigators the investigators tried to intimidate the witnesses into changing their testimony to support the officer’s version,” he said.

The lawsuit alleges that Galloway’s SUV was stopped when Galloway was shot, and only started moving after the fatal shot was fired.

After the shooting, the Killeen Police Department said Plank was patrolling at around 1:30 a.m. March 21 in the area of Elms and South Fort Hood Street when he saw several people involved in a disturbance in the parking lot of Spurs Nightclub at 600 W. Elms Rd., police said.

When the officer stopped to talk to the people, one man ran.

The officer pursued the fleeing man, who attempted to jump through the passenger-side window of a blue Chevrolet Trailblazer in the nightclub’s parking lot, police said.

The officer grabbed the man around the waist and attempted to pull him out of the SUV while the people inside the vehicle were trying to pull the man in, police said.

As the tug-of-war continued, Galloway, the driver of the SUV began to drive off, police said, pinning the officer’s arms to the vehicle and dragging him through the parking lot, police said

The officer was able to work his right arm free, pull his weapon and fire on Galloway, police said, but the driver didn’t stop and the SUV continued to drag the officer until he freed his left arm and fell to the pavement.

The Trailblazer headed around the building and west through the parking lot where it hit a Nissan Sentra that was parked on the north side of the Starlight Club at 3310 S. Fort Hood St., police said.

The Trailblazer then hit several handrails along the building’s steps before it came to a stop on the northwest side of the Starlight Club.

Galloway was taken to Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, where he was he was pronounced dead.

Charges were filed against three passengers in the SUV who were arrested after the shooting.

Tamarcus Gregory Brown, 19, and Mario Lorenzo Jones, 23, were charged with interference with the duties of a public servant.

Jones was also charged with possession of marijuana under two ounces.

Averweone Darneel Holman, 18, was charged with fleeing a police officer and possession of marijuana under two ounces.