Lawsuit Filed Against Dallas County Deputy After Livestreaming Traffic Stop On TikTok

Deputy Francisco Castillo and the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office have been named as defendants in a lawsuit that was filed on March 1st. It accuses Castillo of violating privacy as he livestreamed a traffic stop on the TikTok app.

On March 2, 2021, Castillo stopped Torry Osby. As this occured, Castillo showed Osby’s personal information on his driver’s license, the lawsuit says.

Over 100 TikTok users were viewing the stream, and Osby found out about it when one of the viewers contacted him through the information that was shown, the suit added. His name, address, date of birth, and his license number were seen by viewers.

Documents were accompanied with a still picture from the stream, and the suit states that Castillo had 13,000 followers on TikTok at the time the image was taken. Castillo is said to have marked his account as a law enforcement officer’s account.

The suit claims that Castillo livestreamed traffic stops in order to increase his “likes” and followers which he succeeded in doing.

Osby says that he experienced mental and emotional anguish because of Castillo’s “unlawful conduct and underwent therapy following the flagrant invasion of privacy.”

Prior to the lawsuit being filed, Castillo had been placed on suspension for not adhering to the sheriff’s office’s social media guidelines.