[DAnconia55]

And people wonder why I hate cops....

[Dinsdale]

With a little luck the cops will get sued to the point they are all walking beats because they can't afford cars.

Then they can engage in foot chases on racers.

They civil courts need to slap the donut eaters down hard.

[niki]

More about the Kmart Nazi

[Thud]

I wish the police civil rights abuse cases I filed had been as easy as this one.

[niki]

More about the Kmart Nazi

[AndrewSmith]

Houston police Capt. Mark Aguirre is going to be busted off the force according to some Harris County Sheriffs.

They said this guy has been a pain in the rump for years, and his tyranical behavior finally got the best of him.

This is police state public mistreatment at its best. The people of Houston are outraged, and heads will roll down at the police station. Its expected that the mayor, NO GOOD FOR NUTHIN DOWN TOWN LEE P. BROWN will start a propaganda campaign against Houston police Capt. Mark Aguirre so that the political heat will be deflected away from City Hall.

Yet, the Mayors office is where the ultimate authority remains, and if the police rip up the Constitution, the mayor has to take the heat.

[sweetliberty]

Wonderful police department y'all have down there. I'm glad you don't live in the city.

[niki]

Other threads: Raid went to 'hell in a handbasket'

RAID ON KMART PARKING LOT (HOUSTON) LEAVES SHOCK, ANGER

Raid on Kmart lot leaves shock, anger( America PoliceState in the Making)

[niki]

More about the Kmart Nazi

[AAABEST]

This is how they came up with the phrase PIGS

[USA21]

Houston police Capt. Mark Aguirre, check this guy out

[Fixit]

I linked to a bulletin board message over at KTRK that talked about this raid the other day on my pitiful blog.

The poster there suggested that this was all being driven by the mayor's office.

Also, in an interesting aside, Mark Aguire just had a traffic accident while driving a city owned car.

[Soul Citizen]

COERCION IN ASKING TO POST KNOWING FULL WELL PREDESIGNED PLAN OF POLICE TACTICS.

[JediGirl]

nuts.

[neutrino]

There's a lot of discussion of lawsuits...and that's OK, I guess...but I suspect that a better approach would involve a complaint to the FBI regarding false arrest, official oppression, and civil rights violations.

If a conviction can be accomplished, then civil actions - due to the lower standard of proof - become mere haggling over how much the settlement will be.

In all candor, I find this deeply disturbing. It seems like something one would read about from the old USSR, or the People's Republic of China. And there isn't any real accountability. Aguirre may (may!) get fired; but we have lots of officers, jailers, magistrates, and tow truck drivers who simply went along with the flow and didn't say or do anything to stop it. How far would they go? Is there a subset that would "disappear" certain malfactors, ala South America? Or even some who would agree to something more systematic? I wonder - truly - just how far we are from being like the "good Germans who were only following orders." Would we risk the wrath of the police to stop...whatever?

This is also interesting in that it provides a perfect laboratory for understanding how totalitarian regimes survive. Businesses and everyone else cooperates (or should that be written "capitulates"?)...would they dare do otherwise? Innocent people are arrested, and then - if they aren't prepared to work the system, or cannot afford to do so - they wind up with a conviction for criminal trespass. If the penalty were a week in jail instead of a night, would we react? What if it were a month? A year? Life? Or...death? A few people write about it. A few talk. The investigation will drag on, a statement will be released that mistakes were made, an insincere apology will be read, and I suspect that will be the extent of it. Nothing will happen, and nothing will be done.

Worst of all, there seems to be no outrage among the elected officials. No righteous anger. And that, I fear, is telling.

[ezoeni]

sounds like someone is on a power trip. Typical

[Glenn]

The police only hurt their cause. From this point forward, any action about drag racing will have to be vetted in the newspaper prior to an arrest. Simpletons.

[hopespringseternal]

Aguirre belongs in prison, or Buffalo Bayou. If he doesn't get the former, maybe he will get the latter.

Houston taxpayers, Kmart, Sonic, and JCI are about to make some people very rich.

I don't feel too much sympathy for the majority of Houston voters who keep electing corrupt officials.

[Octavius]

Illegal drag racing?
Wonder where they got that idea? from taudry hollywood movies ?

[robowombat]

"the Houston Police Department requests all persons who are not patrons in the normal course of business to immediately leave the property or be arrested." That seems to be the crux of the matter. The HPD acted with a complete lack of common sense in these operations. Unfortunately this is becoming SOP with to many LE agencies. About 15 years ago one of the malls in Charlotte NC was having a similar problem (It might have been Eastland I am not sure.) In this case several hundred teens would gather on Friday and Saturday nights in one end of the parking garage and mingle and dissipate. This started early in the evening and built up to having so many people present that mall security was helpless to oust them after the mall closed. The company managing the mall grew tired of the potential liability issues, alienated older customers, and cleaning up the debris of the partying and went to the Charlotte-Meck Police. They sent a uniformed unit on Friday to observe the scene and confirm it and the next night had several cars each with four officers and and a couple of tow trucks ready. They went into action a half hour after the last show at the mall cinema ended. The party goers were suddenly faced with two marked cars with all lights on blocking the traffic lane out/ An announcement was made for everyone to leave immediately as the mall was closed and all were trespassing.The police eyeballed the departing cars and pedestrians and had a chat with some about drugs and underage liquor possession. Those folks got to ride down town in one of the police wagons stationed outside and their cars were towed off to the city auto pound. The only other arrest was of a truly lust besotted young man who was so involved in doing it with his sweetie in the backseat of a car that he didn't notice he had an audience. It developed he was 18 and the object of his affections was 15 or so. So this fellow got introduced to the carnal knowledge statute. The police were firm but polite and made it clear if the teens came back another weekend everyone would go to jail as trespassers. Police units regularly checked the garage after that and that was the end of the raucous teen party scene at the mall. Why couldn't the HPD have used as much common sense?

[billbears]

bump for later

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Houston police Capt. Mark Aguirre, the man who ordered the arrests of 278 people at a westside Kmart last weekend, prodded a local restaurant to allow his officers to conduct a similar raid of its parking lot Saturday in a sting that netted 25 arrests.

Sad it came to this after his basketball career at Depaul and in the NBA.

[Dog Gone]

I had heard on the radio about a bust a James Coney Island, but there was nothing in the newspaper about it. I assumed that people were just confused, and they were really referring to the incident at Sonic and Kmart.

But here it is. This happened the night before the Kmart bust. They liked these Gestapo tactics so much they did the following night down the street. Lovely.

Here, at least, they started to follow the letter of the law. They got permission from JCI to arrest those who refused to leave. That is what is required for criminal trespass involving private parking lots like this.

The problem is that they didn't ask anyone to leave. They just arrested everyone there, paying customers or not.

It's clearly a false arrest, and James Coney Island should join the rest of the people in suing the Police Department.

But these morons at HPD liked the results so much that they did it again the following night, and they didn't bother to get permission from Sonic and Kmart, who owned the property. And, of course, they didn't ask anyone to leave.

I can hardly contain my outrage at this conduct, and I can't tell you how disappointed I am in the numerous Freepers who have defended these police actions. Some of them are posters I used to respect.

[Texas Mom]

I can't find the article on the net to print but there was a letter to the Houston Chronicle yesterday from a resident of that area asking "What took them to long?" I don't take the Chronicle anymore but was reading it at my sons house last night.

Evidently this has been an on going problem that has reaked havoc on the neighborhood for the past several months. The neighbors have been calling the police at all hours every Saturday night asking them to do something. The police have been by there every weekend asking the kids to leave. They leave and then come back the following weekend. 1:00 sounds rather mild, but the letter said it usually went on till 3:00 A.M. and sometimes later.

If anyone has the article I wish they would post it. I always think it's best to look at the complete picture rather than just a portion of it.

[kidd]

They can have my hot dog when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.

[bert]

What were they eating and when did they order.

[steve-b]

Monica Coello, 36, was finishing a meal in the parking lot with her brother, sister, sister-in-law and 2-year-old niece when she was arrested.
"We were almost ready to leave when all the patrol cars came in and started blocking the entrances and exits," Coello said. "I wanted to lock my car, and they would not let me. They told me to shut up and walk to the back."
Coello's sister-in-law and niece were left behind, stranded. Police took Coello, her brother and sister to jail. Eventually, their mother shelled out $900 in bail, and the three siblings were freed.

Oh Keeevviieeee. Come and defend your budddiieess....

[freebilly]

Most of those arrested, Straughan said, were among a group of motorcyclists that has gathered at the restaurant every weekend for nine years without problems.

Freakin' unbelieveable!