Here's another drinking establishment in Texas frequented by officers looking for fun and relaxation:
Interrupt a sheriff's deputy's beer? Prepare for a hailstorm of lead! (Feb 5, 2004)
When Harris County sheriff's deputies return fire, they really return fire. Especially if they're at a bar.
The December 27 drive-by shooting at the venerable West Alabama Ice House didn't get much notice from the media, it being just another bit of the gunplay that tends to liven up a night on the town here.
But gee, it sounds like it was fun.
Three off-duty deputies were at the icehouse about midnight, and things seemed quiet enough. Then a 1992 Ford pickup truck screamed down the street, with two twentysomethings in it, one of whom started firing a .22-caliber pistol.
The cops tried to get the license plate but couldn't, so they settled back to their table. Soon they heard the telltale sounds indicating the truck was about to make a second pass. "By that time the guys had loaded up and said, 'If he comes back again, forget about it, we're returning fire,' " says Burt Springer, the lawyer representing two of the deputies.
And did they ever. Somewhere around 40 shots' worth. Investigators reportedly ran out of the little markers used to identify spent shell casings and had to borrow paper cups. Basically, Springer says, the deputies emptied their guns.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but…all the shots missed. The truck was shot up like Swiss cheese, but neither the driver nor the trigger-happy passenger was hit. They were stopped a mile or so later -- not because they were driving a truck riddled with bullet holes, but because they ran a red light.
(Deputies do have to keep up their target-shooting qualifications in Harris County, but those tests are not taken in bars.)
Sheriff's spokesman Lieutenant Robert Van Pelt says the department's internal affairs division is still looking into the incident, but Springer thinks nothing will come of it. Since no one was hit, the district attorney's office did not send anyone to the scene, making a grand jury review more unlikely.
Springer says the deputies had been at the bar only a short time and weren't drunk. Not that it would matter: "Even police officers who've been drinking are allowed to defend themselves," he says.
If only they could aim.
Note too that there is an apartment complex right across the stree from this ice house.
I know this establishment well...the proprietor used to give out free hot dogs on Friday night.... My office was one block away.
It's basically an outdoor bar (no AC). In Houston during the summer, siting outside in 100 degree weather, with humidity so high the air can only be sliced with a sharp knife, eating hot dogs, sweating profusely, and dodging drive-by live fire is not my idea of a good time. Have I done it? Yes.....go figure.