Steve Campbell / Chronicle
Soneary Sy is overcome with emotion outside the police station as she waits for her son to be released. Sy said she waited all night for her 17-year-old son, a straight-A student, to come home.
Posted on 08/21/2002 9:15:06 PM PDT by mindprism.com
Aug. 19, 2002, 12:30PM
By RON NISSIMOV
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
A crowd of angry teenagers and their parents accused police Sunday of arresting many innocent bystanders during an overnight raid on a west Houston parking lot where youths apparently congregate.
Scores of Houston police officers swarmed onto the Kmart parking lot in the 8400 block of Westheimer about 12:30 a.m. Sunday and arrested about 425 people for criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor.
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Steve Campbell / Chronicle
Soneary Sy is overcome with emotion outside the police station as she waits for her son to be released. Sy said she waited all night for her 17-year-old son, a straight-A student, to come home. |
Houston Police Department spokesman Martin DeLeon said many cars were towed.
DeLeon said business owners have been complaining about youths gathering on their parking lots on weekend nights and causing a
commotion.
DeLeon said he did not have more details about the incident because the two captains in charge of the raid, M.A. Aguirre and J.P.
Mokwa, were sleeping Sunday after working all night.
The Kmart store is open 24 hours a day, and many of the people at the HPD station at 61 Reisner said Sunday that
they had simply been shopping or eating at a Sonic drive-in restaurant that adjoins the discount store's parking lot when they were
arrested.
Kmart and Sonic supervisors referred all questions to their corporate headquarters, which were not open Sunday.
"We went to use the restroom at Kmart and to buy a Scrunchi (hair band), and when we came back to our car, cops were coming in (the
parking lot) and they tied our hands," said Brandi Ratliff, 18, who said she was a straight-A student at Waller High School and
never had any problems with the law.
Ratliff said that even though she and two friends told police they had just come out of the Kmart, all three were arrested and spent
the night in jail.
"It was traumatic," said a tearful Ratliff on Sunday morning after her parents drove from Stafford to pay her $300 bail at the
downtown city jail. "It was sick where they were holding us. A prostitute was fighting with another woman. The food they served was
food you would serve to a dog, not a human."
Ratliff and her two friends, Kris Karsteter, 21, and Kyesa Scott, 18, all had pink marks on their wrists from where they said police
had tied plastic handcuffs too tightly.
Scott said she didn't have the money to pay bail and so she pleaded guilty to avoid spending another night in
jail.
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Steve Campbell / Chronicle
Brandi Ratliff, left, and Kyesa Scott, both 18, comfort each other after being released from police custody. "It was traumatic," Ratliff said of her arrest in a Kmart parking lot and a night in jail.
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Emily Demmler, 19, said: "All I was doing was eating ice cream."
Demmler said the only trouble she'd previously had with authorities was being called into the principal's office twice in elementary
school for gossiping. She said she pulled her car into the Sonic lot shortly after midnight so she and her two friends could get
some ice cream after a night of karaoke.
After about five minutes, police "just swarmed," Demmler said.
"We thought we were in the middle of a drug bust, and we thought, `We're cool; we're not doing anything wrong,' " said Demmler, a
part-time lifeguard at the Jewish Community Center who is starting college this fall at the University of Houston.
Instead, all the patrons at the Sonic were ordered by police to march to the Kmart lot, where they joined throngs of other people
who were being arrested, she said.
"My purse and my friend's purse were still in the car ... but the cop wouldn't let me get them,"
said Demmler, whose mother eventually recovered her car and both purses.
"We asked police why we were being arrested, and they said, `Everybody is receiving equal treatment from the Houston Police
Department tonight.' It didn't matter what you were doing; they arrested you."
Demmler said many youths appearing to be 13 or 14 were arrested and taken to juvenile detention facilities, adding, "They even
arrested a 10-year-old girl who was having dinner with her father and took her to juvenile detention.
"She got separated from her father and I asked her how old she was, and she told me she was 10," Demmler said. "She was dazed."
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In a phone interview, Demmler claimed to have "huge marks on my arms" from tight handcuffs.
Leanne Williams said her 19-year-old son called her from jail and told her he showed police a receipt for bottled water from Kmart,
but he was still arrested.
She said her son called her five times from the downtown jail, but police still couldn't locate him at 11 a.m. because
his paperwork had been delayed.
"I gotta spend my Sunday at the jail searching for my son they can't find," said her husband, Jerome Williams.
Soneary Sy didn't know her 17-year-old son, a straight-A student, was arrested until he called her at 6 a.m.
"I didn't sleep all night waiting for my son to come home" said a sobbing Sy, a Cambodian immigrant who moved to Houston 22 years ago. "He tried to go to Kmart and as soon as he got to Kmart he was arrested."
That's an awful lot of people to be shopping at KMart at that hour. If they were all shopping at KMart and ordering at Sonic, why would the mangagement of KMart or Sonic have complained to the police? They must have been raking it in hand over fist.
Leanne Williams said her 19-year-old son called her from jail and told her he showed police a receipt for bottled water from Kmart, but he was still arrested.
I always goes to KMart in the middle of the night for my bottled water. I just don't like the lack of selection at Circle K.
"They even arrested a 10-year-old girl who was having dinner with her father and took her to juvenile detention. "She got separated from her father and I asked her how old she was, and she told me she was 10," Demmler said. "She was dazed."
That happened to me once. I was with my ten-year-old daughter driving around in the middle of the night. She wanted some ice-cream, so I passed all the Circle K's and 7-11's and decided to stop at Sonic, even though there were 425 people hanging out and partying in the parking lot.
What was it like?
I have a question...one asked in all seriousness. One of the offenses for which some were arrested was trespassing.
Let us suppose that I - on the wrong side of 40 by a large margin - take leave of my senses and go to a Kmart store that is open and doing business at 12:30 AM some Saturday. I walk in, look around, and don't find anything that I want. I then walk out.
Have I committed criminal trespass? Am I subject to arrest at this point?
Suppose that I notice Sonic, and decide to walk over to that establishment. I don't move my vehicle - in this scenario, it would still be in the Kmart parking lot. I purchase a food item and begin to consume it.
At this juncture, am I committing criminal trespass? Am I now subject to arrest?
I note that the Texas statute regarding criminal trespass makes no mention of the time. You may read it yourself HERE
Which begs the question - if I were to do any of the above listed acts at 2:00 PM on a Wednesday, would I not (per the standards of arrest apprarently followed by the Houston PD) be subject to arrest? Dare I go shopping...anywhere?
Thanks in advance for your insights.
Now, regarding your items in this thread:
You state in item #9 of this thread "That's an awful lot of people to be shopping at KMart at that hour. If they were all shopping at KMart and ordering at Sonic, why would the mangagement of KMart or Sonic have complained to the police? They must have been raking it in hand over fist. "
Quite possibly, they were coerced. Please note the thread of FR HERE
Also, it doesn't matter. If 424 of them weren't shopping, it doesn't make it legal (or morally just) to arrest the 425th one who was a legitimate customer.
You also mention in your item #9 "I always goes to KMart in the middle of the night for my bottled water. I just don't like the lack of selection at Circle K."
Clearly, the businesses involved believe that the level of business available at that hour justifies being open. One can only assume that someone does, in fact, purchase water or other goods at that hour. It may be that the businesses suffer from incompetent management - their Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing may be suggestive - but that doesn't matter either. They were open for business.
Lastly, you comment in your item #9 "That happened to me once. I was with my ten-year-old daughter driving around in the middle of the night. She wanted some ice-cream, so I passed all the Circle K's and 7-11's and decided to stop at Sonic, even though there were 425 people hanging out and partying in the parking lot. "
I am not aware of any law that prohibits such acts. You might wish to avoid San Antonio during Fiesta - a crowd exceeding 500,000 hangs out and parties along the river. Vendors even sell ice cream. Beer too.
Indeed. Or the 4,250th, 42,500th, 425,000th, 4,250,000th, or even the 42,500,000th. In fact, if there is the possibility that even one innocent person might be arrested out of the 250,000,000-odd souls in this country, the JBT police ought to be prohibited from arresting anyone. It is the only moral and principled postion to take.
I'm finally starting to see the impeccable logic of libertarianism. Lest one innocent soul suffer unlawful infringement of his unalienable rights by government, government and law enforcement must be eliminated. Free, free, free at last!
On the other hand, perhaps this was just a botched and poorly planned raid that for the most part properly targeted thugs and scofflaws whose behavior was impinging on the local business' right to make a profit and law-abiding citizens' right to shop. If so, perhaps the officials responsible should be and will be fired anyway and law-abiding citizens who were unjustly arrested will receive just compensation for their inconvenience and poor treatment. Hopefully the next raid will be much better planned and executed, and no innocent shopper will be inconvenienced. That would make sense to me.
In the final analysis, even in law enforcement the perfect should not be made the enemy of the good. The alternatives--anarchy, tribalism, or private police forces--are much worse than an occasional botched raid such as this.
As usual, another right-on analysis based on conservative common sense which rational people expect and appreciate from you, Kevin, in juxtaposition to the usual nonsensical anarchic rants and liberal whines of the ideologues. Kudos.
Who said anything about the elimination of law enforcement?
Furthermore, I'd like to see how you justify the police going ahead and arresting the people who showed them receipts of their purchases. It's easy for a cop to claim that he didn't understand the law in question well enough to know that it hadn't been violated--but it's far more difficult to dismiss the simple fact that many of the arrestees both here and at the Coney Island restaurant were paying customers who had receipts to prove it and the overzealous cops went ahead and arrested them anyway.
Kevin's "anaylsis" is a "lesser of two evils" argument that presents the situation in pure either/or terms. Either we give the police free rein to operate as they wish without any fear of reprisal or repercussion if they screw up, or we have total anarchy, and there is no middle ground. That you label this kind of "analysis" as "common sense" is telling.
Just like it's currently used to protect the neighborhood liquor store...
a) Your argument seems to suggest that this is an isolated incident. Please note that one week prior, a similar raid was conducted. You can read about it HERE. One incident may be a botched raid; two incidents are a trend. Two incidents suggest a fundamental attitude that is disturbing at best.
b) You speak of the rights of local businesses to operate. But the silence of the businesses on this matter is eloquent. None of them have come out with praise for the raid. One (see link above), had the following statement: "We were cooperative with the idea (of the raid), but are not necessarily happy with the execution," said Darrin Straughan, a vice president with the restaurant chain. "We are victims here, too. We never imagined that this is the way it would be handled or that legitimate customers would be arrested." When a representative of the business states that they, too, are a victim, the argument regarding impinging on the local business' right to make a profit is badly undermined.
c) You state that the officials responsible should be and will be fired anyway. I have my doubts that anyone will be fired, but we shall see. Even if Aguirre is fired, we have a large number of officials who participated in mass arrests of people who were not in violation of the law. That is, in my opinion, problematic if one wants a free society. It is laudable only if one desires an authoritarian social model.
d) You further state that law-abiding citizens who were unjustly arrested will receive just compensation for their inconvenience and poor treatment. Does that include the arrest being expunged from their records? How, exactly, are they to be compensated for a night in jail listening to the drunks howl and the nutcases gibbering into the night? Or is this mere collateral damage, something that one accepts as the price for order?
No, this is no little botched raid. It is a mindset and a way of operating that is inimical to the very concept of a free society.
And the shills still come out. Cruel cowards.
Well... another citizen just got a 2x4 between the eyes lesson in the "All Holy, Cops Can Do No Wrong" conditioning that Americans have been subjected to for years now. It mostly comes from the "Cops" type TV shows that are constantly blared on the tube. Not ONE of the shows ever shows the reality.. i.e., a typical cop will screw something up about once or twice a month. Usually they or their supervisor will just apologize to the victim and cut them loose. This time you got 425 simultaneous screwups, must be some kinda record....
The police definitely over-reacted and handled the problem the wrong way. Nonetheless, do you think justice is served by making excuses for a large crowd using the parking lot as a convenient hang out to the detriment of a private property owner?
Let me ask you a question: If a crowd of 100 people, whatever age, "race", religion or culture decided to party within 300 feet of your home or business regularly several times a week, what would you do? Move, buy earplugs or stand your ground?
Thank you for the kind words.
The police definitely over-reacted and handled the problem the wrong way.
We certainly agree on this point!
Nonetheless, do you think justice is served by making excuses for a large crowd using the parking lot as a convenient hang out to the detriment of a private property owner?
This is a lot more problematic. Is it, in fact, to the property owner's detriment? Sonic states, explicitly and strongly, that they didn't object to the crowd. K-mart has declined to say. A current thread indicates that the no trespassing signs were put up using Houston city money, and have HPD printed at the bottom. You may read the details HERE.
It sounds as if the private property owners didn't have a strong objection. And we have quotes (please see above link) by the assistant District Attorney:
"Police usually only enforce signs that business owners put up."
"Is it normal that the owners put up the signs or was it signs put up by the police officers? That's a fact that we're going to try to determine." said Tommy LaFon, assistant district attorney."
But LaFon said that supervisors and any street officers, who arrested innocent people, could face charges, even if they were just following orders to arrest everyone.
"I would expect that any officer being given an order that's a clear violation of the law would not carry out that, and identify it as such," LaFon said.
This does not sound like a ringing endorsement of HPD's tactics. Nor of their strategy.
Let me ask you a question: If a crowd of 100 people, whatever age, "race", religion or culture decided to party within 300 feet of your home or business regularly several times a week, what would you do? Move, buy earplugs or stand your ground?
My preferences are probably not too relevant...but since you ask, I've no objection to saying. Please understand that I like quiet, and order. I haven't stayed out past 11:00 PM in years (no, not even on New Year's eve). I put on headphones and crank up the volume when the neighbor's two grandchildren play in their back yard. So you see, from a personal standpoint, I'm not on the side of the parkers. Were such a group disturbing me, I would surely have mental images the contents of which would get me banned for life.
That being said, and the aforementioned mental images notwithstanding, I am deeply concerned about mass arrests of people who clearly - and according to legitimate, verified reports - were innocent. They were arrested, they were charged, and they were jailed. I assure you that I have not fallen prey to foul altruism; my concern is selfish. How can I know that I won't be next? Sure, I don't stay out late - but what if I happen to be out at 10:15 PM and decide to get some fries? Am I at risk of being cuffed and stuffed? I believe that I am. And that's disturbing in the extreme. It smacks of an (at least) authoritarian regime. I prefer freedom - even at the cost of personal annoyance - to the risks involved in living under an authoritarian regime.
There are legitimate law enforcement tools available. I'm none too sure I approve of the curfew law, but it's on the books. Enforce it. Do a warrant check on every person, and arrest those with outstanding warrants. If one really wants to get nasty, do a safety check on each vehicle before permitting it to leave - and those that don't pass the safety check can't be driven. Let the drivers walk, or call a cab or relative - at their own expense. If they drive a vehicle that doesn't pass safety inspection, arrest them for that specific offense...warn them before they try to do so. Notice that this is all legal (heavy handed, yes, but legal), and it would most certainly dissuade even the more ardent parkers to go away.
But mass arrests, including lots of people who haven't violated any law? Down that path lies nothing but pain and sorrow. And keep in mind, that you or I could be the person in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even if we avoid crowds like the plague as I do.
When I was a "yout" we used to hang out at various hidden places from woods to behind closed stores, etc., but we knew to keep it quiet and not litter. Except for that one time...
We knew that if we stepped out of line, the police would show up at some point. I'm talking about groups of up to ten, though, not hundreds!
Thanks for the excellent reply!
As a result of the operation, approximately 278 individuals were arrested with the majority being charged with criminal trespass. Of that number, 42 were juveniles who were processed by the HPD Juvenile Division. All juveniles were charged with curfew violations and 30 were charged with criminal trespass.
Chief C.O. Bradford has begun an inquiry into several aspects of this operation to determine:
Who was in charge.
What instructions were given to officers involved.
Why an after-action report was not completed in a timely manner.
Why a significant event report was not given to the Office of the Chief of Police.
Why arrests were made instead of issuing citations.
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