Posted on 09/14/2016 7:31:19 PM PDT by Elderberry
Three Waco police officers were cleared Wednesday of wrongdoing in the May 17, 2015, Twin Peaks shootout that left nine people dead and 18 wounded.
“Our department, along with numerous local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, has worked tirelessly on the still ongoing investigation of Twin Peaks,” Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said in a statement. “We have completed an exhaustive internal investigation on the officer involved portion of the incident which was reviewed by the Texas Rangers. The three officers have been cleared by the investigation, and the action of the grand jury affirms those findings.”
The grand jury no-billed 15-year veteran officer Andy O’Neal, 11-year veteran officer Michael Bucher and 9-year veteran officer Heath Jackson in the Wednesday hearing. McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna and two Texas Rangers presented the cases to the grand jury, Reyna said.
“These officers acted professionally under very difficult circumstances,” Waco police interim Chief Frank Gentsch said in a statement. “I’m glad to have this caliber of officers protecting our city. I appreciate the job conducted by the department investigators, the Texas Rangers, the McLennan County DA’s Office and the grand jury in this case.”
The officers will immediately return to full duty, Gentsch said. Swanton did not immediately return a voicemail.
Four of the people killed in the shootout and one of the wounded were struck with bullets from .223-caliber rifles, the only type of firearms police used at the scene, according to an Associated Press report. Two of the bikers killed were also struck with other types of bullets, according to the AP report.
It is unclear whether bikers fired the same caliber of bullets. Twelve long guns were reportedly recovered from Twin Peaks, which could include rifles.
Brent Stroman, Waco’s police chief at the time of the shootout, has said three officers fired a total of 12 shots. No other law enforcement officers fired their weapons, Stroman has said, and the rifles were used in a semi-automatic setting during the shootout, not fully automatic.
Stroman has said the three officers were on administrative leave for about two months after the shootout and then were placed on administrative duty.
Authorities confiscated about 475 weapons from Twin Peaks, including 151 guns, in addition to knives, brass knuckles, batons, tomahawks, weighted weapons, a hatchet, stun guns, bats, clubs, a machete, a pipe, an ax, pepper spray and a chain.
Police arrested 177 bikers after the shootout, and 154 have since been indicted.
Okay, when do all the white people get to riot, loot and burn stuff?.........
Good
Anybody surprised? I am sincerely hoping the civil suit againt Reyna buries him.
“And the farmer hauled another load away!” Waco has learned to lie just like Hillary! Absolve the guilty, punish the innocent, That’s the ticket! What an absiolutely disgusting city.
Government investigates itself; finds no wrongdoing. Film at never.
No surprise.
This is still the worse mess I ever saw for those who were not killed and harmed nobody.
All the BS about the number of guns etc. Is is pure nonsense. Most of them were in Vehicles and perfectly legally owned.
Am now hearing it will be another 2 years before the cases are actually heard.
Stopping the killing was a perfect use of force by law enforcement. But the way Waco handled the arrests and prosecution is insane. It will not end well for the City.
And without furnishing an account of what happened, either.
Good work, if you can get it.
Maybe the officers were infected with pneumonia by the Russians.
Explanations that this was needed to bust an evil plot by the bikers don’t seem to make sense either. This would seem to be one of the worst ways to “expose” any evil plot there was, looking far more like a quintessential fishing expedition. It sounds more like it is attempting to hide behind public disgust at the fight to do anything and everything to the bikers that they can think of, legal or otherwise.
Fight? Are you referring to the gangster shootout at a family plaza?
How do they know from a spent bullet whether the firearm that shot it was semi-automatic or automatic?
OMG disgusting stuff
Just as I said months ago from the autopsy reports almost all wounds by .223. They say only two were other than, I said only one.
Oh, and IBTG.
Pocket knives, steak knives, etc.
You are assuming the police stopped the killing. The fact that of all the wounds only two were not produced by police weapons sort of challenges that assumption, doesn’t it? In fact, I would go so far as to say that we’re your assumption true this mess would have been cleaned up long ago. No, the fact that the authorities are dragging this out would indicate that perhaps it was the police that started the killing. A lethal police riot. This is what is being covered up.
Oh, and now I see I did not get IBTG.
I’ve been in contact with one of those arrested since the event happened. His life is still in limbo and he is one of 13 with suits against Waco & PD. He has not been critical of the police acting to end shooting. I have not seen the evidence, doubt he has either. Nor have you.
But I agree that the way this has been handled by the Wac(k)o Police Dept with some Fed agencies assistance is insane. Clearly outside the bounds of the law.
The prosecutorial abuses are being papered over for now, but eventually it will all come out. It will not end well for Waco or the Texas taxpayers.
2 more years to trial? That is what I’ve heard. Headshake
At least ten years to allow actual discovery.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.