Posted on 06/04/2015 4:39:58 AM PDT by don-o
As questions remain unanswered about the last month’s deadly biker rampage in Waco, Texas, police there are trying to clamp down on public information about the case.
The move as scrutiny intensifies over the Waco Police Department’s handling of the sensational shootout that killed nine bikers, injured 18 and saw an unprecedented 175 people arrested and charged with engaging in organized crime.
By law, crime and arrest reports containing basic data — information such as a detailed description of the offense and the name and a description of the victim — have to be provided.
While some details about the dead, including identities, have trickled out, officials have been slow to provide information through documented reports as required by Texas Public Records Act.
Documents that have been released to Yahoo News appear to hap-hazardously redacted. Even though required by law, the names of arresting officers are omitted. But the identities, addresses and other contact information of suspect’s next-of-kin are prevalent.
snip
Still unknown is where each victim was killed and by whom. Officers have acknowledged firing on armed bikers, but it is not clear how many of the dead were shot by gang members and how many were shot by officers.
Yahoo News submitted a written request on May 19 for reports related to the nine people who were shot and killed at the Twin Peaks restaurant.
On Wednesday, the Waco City Attorney’s office asked the Texas Attorney General for permission to withhold the records from Yahoo News and other media outlets that have made similar requests.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
don-o, also related to Your Post #32
You cover a couple points there. If the city intends to withhold information, then it is required to inform the state AG. The city isn't asking the state AG to invent a reason, the City is asserting a reason, and making the statutorily required request to the state AG to render an opinion relating to the City's decision.
Separately, there is a question of whether or not the reason the city gives, holds water. The letter is too short, and blanket asserts the same reason(s) for all sorts of information. It primarily cites fear of retaliation, which is an excuse to redact names of involved government shooters and support; but "retaliation" is not a good reason to withhold information about which persons were killed by police, and which were killed by gang-members.
This is a fairly common and deliberate stonewalling tactic of its own, to conflate issues and perpetually "play dumb." Imagine, if you will, dealing with the likes of TexasGator, etc., but on an official level. That is what is going on.
How many pressers have we watched in the aftermath of how many high (and not so high) profile events, wherein law enforcement, prosecutors, medical, even humanitarian personnel stand before the press?
A lot.
By the second day a timeline should be able to be shared. After a week, results of the autopsies should have been released. Someone should have been charged with murder and placed in isolation for his protection.
The Waco Silence was enough to raise suspicion. The resistance to FOIA type compliance does nothing to quash those suspicions.
That is exactly what the law requires...and your quibble about the meaning of 'seeking guidance' from a state level office is just that.
That says a lot about how much police can be trusted nowadays.
“It looks like it and I have no doubt that a fairly large percentage of those biker were pretty bad guys”
No question there are bad guys among them, but many are veterans who served in war zones and are recruited by the biker gangs. Who can think of a better target for Obama and the DOJ, who think their enemies are right wing vets?
Good find. Ms Benton had already been called down in 2010 for her inability to count ten days.
Big hammer meets little nail. LOL!
Found on Page 2 of a BING Search, now on Page 1 (guessing because I clicked on it)
Something just told Me to do a search on her...
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT Ms. …
Ms. Judith N. Benton -Page 2 district established under section 772.318. You have marked the telephone number of a 9-1-1caller that the city seeks to withhold under ...
Do you really think there is no compelling reason to withhold confidential information in the Waco shooting?
Think again sonny.
What is the compelling reason to withhold:
Number of shots fired by LE.
Number of shots fired by others.
Number of bullets removed from bodies.
Description of those bullets.
Should, I address you as "Dad"? Or maybe "Pop" would be more appropriate.
“It looks like it and I have no doubt that a fairly large percentage of those biker were pretty bad guys
That said this looks to have been a totally illegal ambush.”
I agree. With this release of anything except what we need to see it has become painfully obvious this was nothing more than “Murder by Cop” in an entirely new way. Usually it is a sort of suicide when a reluctant officer shoots someone.
In this case it was a planned premeditated killing of American citizens. Regardless how one feels about the clothing these people wore; they were not terrorists or a threat to the American people in any way that would require this kind of heavy handed swat team with silencers type of force in broad daylight putting hundreds of innocent Americans at risk of death or injury.
If they are so eager to do this to a bunch of patriotic Americans who look different and live in a way not considered mainstream; what will they do to the rest of us down the line if this isn’t nipped in the bud right now?
Someone equated this with a canary in a coal mine. I must agree with that analogy. If all of us don’t stand up for those we might find disagreeable right now; who will stand up for us when they aim our way?
I have been supportive of the police up to now. If the police police themselves in this instance I will regain the trust I have lost. I can guarantee everyone that clubs, especially the more violent ones, would police their own if the situation was reversed. That thin blue line only works if the law is staying on the right side of that line.
Right is right and wrong is wrong. In this case there is very little grey area. /stepping off soap box...
Any updates on Texas Rangers investigations? They do internal affairs-type work on every officer licensed in TX. And they’re not corrupt, either, or haven’t been in the past.
Correct, but as some other posters have mentioned, there’s also the stonewalling, delays, release of records that have no pertinence, and so on. The city may be doing the one thing ‘correctly’, but add in the rest of the evidence and it makes this process simply look like a stalling tactic/distraction. As others have said, they almost definitely know their withhold request doesn’t hold water, but they did it anyway. And not within the 10day timeframe required.
Of course there's a reason. It undermines the cops story.
It's 10 business days. Since Memorial Day (5/25) was not a business day, 6/3 was exactly the 10th business day.
That is correct. I was wrong.
I knew that I wasn’t perfect, so I can handle this.
NBD. :-)
However, it's interesting that the Waco DA (?) waited until the very last minute to send the query to the AG.
Up thread, someone posted a statement by the AG to the same DA, on another case back in 2010. The first thing it said: you didn't submit this within the required 10 days, so under the law, we can't grant an exception.
But, it then goes on to cite another provision of law to justify non-disclosure of at least one piece of information: the phone number used to call 911.
You would think she would have learned to not dither around and put off the request to the AG until the last minute.
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.