GALVESTON COUNTY -- Dramatic dash camera video obtained by 11 News sheds new light on a case that sent an innocent mental patient to jail.
The video is now at the center of a civil rights lawsuit.
The beginning of the dash cam tape from a Santa Fe Police car shows Sergio Robles walking down the middle of Highway 6.
The officers stopped Sergio to ask why he's in the middle of the road.
For more than a year, no one knew the truth about what happened next except Robles' and the police officers.
The traffic stop ended with Robles in jail charged with assaulting the cops. His case would linger in the court system for more than two years.
Robles adamantly denied the accusations from the beginning and continued to insist that he was the one beaten that night.
Until recently, the truth was hidden in the rest of the dash cam videotape that finally came out during Robles' trial.
It took more than a year for Robles' attornies to get the tapes.
"It was the whole case right there. The first thing I told the jury in my closing argument was ask for the videos, watch the videos," said Paul Damico, Robles' attorney.
In the video, one officer grabs Robles' arm and slams him into the hood of a patrol car.
Robles is then taken to the ground where the officers begin throwing punches. One officer hit him in the face. The other punched him in the stomach and ribs.
He was then maced and handcuffed.
"I honestly thought that I could be killed or I was gonna die," Robles said. "I was on the pavement getting punched in the face. There was no telling what they were gonna do to me."
When a Galveston judge finally saw the video, Robles' felonies were reduced to a misdemeanor.
It took a jury just 30 minutes last week to find him not guilty of the misdemeanor.
"I'm just excited that the truth finally came out after two-and-a-half years," Robles said Monday. "I was labeled as a felon."
And there was more video and audio as Robles was being booked in jail and the officers were bragging about what they'd done.
"It was on man. He's back there right now. He's in the booking area," said one officer. "We can't even put him in a cell. We're afraid he'll die."
"But look at his face," said another officer on the tape. "We [expletive] him up. Not by choice, but by [expletive] out of necessity."
"They beat him, they used weapons on him, they maced him, they left him without water, he's throwing up, he's unconscious and they don't care," said Kelly Case, Robles' attorney. "I think it's pretty bad."
It turned out Robles was walking down the middle of Highway 6 that night because he is a schizophrenic who was off his medication. He was distraught because his father had died three days before.
"They should have been trained to handle people that are mentally ill," Robles said. "They shouldn't just automatically throw them on the car and start beating them up. I mean, that's not right."
"I think this is a huge brutality case," said Case.
Vindicated by the video, Robles has filed a civil suit against the police officers. His case against them goes to federal court later this year.
The Santa Fe Police Department says it can't comment for this story because of the lawsuit.
