Posted on 08/21/2002 11:44:49 AM PDT by chance33_98
Police captain who led K-Mart parking lot raid involved in wreck
Captain Mark Aguirre was involved in a wreck with a big rig overnight. By ABC13 Eyewitness News (8/21/02) — A Houston police captain who led a controversial crackdown on teens this weekend found himself answering questions from patrol officers after an accident overnight. Police say a big rig driver tried to make a left turn from a left turn lane on West 18th at the West Loop just after midnight and crashed into the personal car of HPD captain Mark Aguirre.
Police ticketed the trailer driver for failing to stay in his lane. Aguirre's car had to be towed.
--------------------------------- More fallout from mass arrests in K-Mart parking lot
Captain Mark Aguirre was in charge of Operation Erasure. By Jeff Ehling ABC13 Eyewitness News (8/20/02) — There's more fallout after the arrests of nearly 300 people at a popular Westheimer hangout over the weekend. The decisions made by the captain in charge of the controversial operation are being questioned by internal affairs. On Tuesday, the police union held a press conference to talk about the incident.
The sting was dubbed "Operation Erasure", but it's something that's not going to go away any time soon.
"There's a leadership vacuum somewhere between that captain and the chief's office," said Hans Marticuic of the Houston Police Officers Union.
That captain that Marticuic is talking about is Captain Mark Aguirre. He was the captain in charge the night 278 people were arrested in a K-Mart parking lot. Complaints about heavy handed police tactics and the arrests of innocent people have sparked an inquiry by the internal affairs division of HPD and by the chief of police.
"He's conducting an investigation to determine what happened," said Mayor Lee Brown. "He's expressed pretty clearly the answers he wants. Why did this happen? Why was this particular captain in charge? It's not his area. Why he, being the chief, wasn't notified."
Those questions, according to the police union, should have been answered long before Operation Erasure's first arrest. The union will provide attorneys for the more than 50 officers who were at the scene to protect those officers during the investigation.
"I would imagine that the city's position will be on hunkering down to limit their liability," said Marticuic. "As the union, our position would be to represent these officers that are out there trying to do their jobs, being ordered to do their jobs in such a manner."
District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal's office is listening to complaints about what happened this weekend, but stopped short of saying there was an investigation. According to the union, decisions to make arrests generally don't come from captains on the scene. They say they generally come from a bit higher up in the police department hierarchy.
I think I found the source...
"attempted negligent homocide."
Wonder if the trucker had a friend or relation arrested Sunday morning. That would be karma.
Any bets on whether Captain Idiot was speeding sufficiently to fool the trucker into turning prematurely figuring he had plenty of time to make the turn?
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