Kmart wanted the problem dealt with -- loiterers and drag racers.
Not just K-Mart, who has since denied they asked for any type of help from the police, but also residents of apartment complexes immediately adjacent to the K-Mart.
Unfortunately, HPD went nuts. Rather than going after the loiterers and drag racers, they just started swooping in, blocking exits, and arresting every single person present, including legitimate customers, on bogus charges.
It seems the implication here is the police just suddenly arrived without warning and started arresting everyone, when no one had done anything wrong. You certainly got that impression with some of the early news reports, with allegedly concerned parents moaning, "Oh, my child is a Straight-A student who has never been in trouble his whole life, and the police just came up and arrested him! Ohhhhh!"
The problem is, that in and of itself is bogus. According to an op-ed piece published in the Houston Chronicle and written by Christine McDonald, the police had been contacted on numerous occasions on complaints of noise and general rowdiness caused by an ever increasing crowd (as mentioned by Houston City Councilman Bert Keller on KHOU-TV).
Police visits to the lot and the posting of No Trespassing signs (which were present on the day of the raid, as indicated by a report by KHOU-TV) went unheeded and ignored.
On August 18, an undercover officer had been inside the K-Mart prior to the raid, handing out cards to whom they believed to be legitimate customers. All they had to do was whip out one of those cards when the raid commenced, and they would not be arrested. The exits were indeed blocked, to keep those who would be arrested from escaping by vehicle.
The James Coney Island raid was conducted on adults who had been meeting for ten years with the blessing of the owner of the establishment and were doing absolutely nothing wrong.
Separate issue, therefore irrelevant.
Because the police made no effort to separate legitimate patrons from loiterers in either raid, they destroyed their own credibility.
Obviously false. If anyone is contributing to the destruction of the credibility of the Houston Police Department, it is the news media, who has deliberately tried to make this look like an act of the Keystone Kops on a group of little angels.
The drag racers and loiterers need to be dealt with, but that probably isn't possible now.
That is, unfortunately, quite so. In fact, things now will only get worse. And you can thank our biased, leftist news media for it.
There's a problem: the police apparently posted the "No Trespassing" signs. The legality is questionable if they did do so at the request of K-Mart and Sonic, but unquestionally illegal if the police did so on their own. The police have no authority to arbitrary post those signs on private property.
Separate issue, therefore irrelevant.
Now I'm laughing out loud. The fact that OJ was found not guilty is relevant to this incident, but the outcome of a nearly identical raid commanded by the same officer in the same city isn't relevant? :-) Today, the city council apparently didn't think it was irrelevant.
Hint to people that don't understand: see here. And per his request, it also explains why I haven't addressed this response to the original poster.
Obviously false. If anyone is contributing to the destruction of the credibility of the Houston Police Department, it is the news media, who has deliberately tried to make this look like an act of the Keystone Kops on a group of little angels.
Keystone Kops is a good analogy -- I hadn't thought of that until now. I imagine someone could turn that into a good cartoon. But, the HPD does seem to be improving their credibility by suspending 13 officers. The DA is also trying to do the right thing by promising to dismiss all the charges if he finds that illegal arrests were made.
That is, unfortunately, quite so. In fact, things now will only get worse. And you can thank our biased, leftist news media for it.
While I agree about the lamestream media, I don't think they are the reason that the drag racing and loitering will get worse. That blame lies squarely on the HPD for their monumental screwup. If the DA can be taken at his word, one false arrest will be cause to dismiss all of the rest. If the HPD had been more careful, they probably wouldn't have to meet such a high standard.
However, the HPD can deal effectively with the problem without resorting to military tactics. Hopefully, they will do so, within the law.
The police arrived suddenly, and without warning started arresting everyone without wanton disregard for whether the individuals being arrested had done anything wrong. That much is agreed to by both witnesses and the police.
The problem is, that in and of itself is bogus. According to an op-ed piece published in the Houston Chronicle and written by Christine McDonald, the police had been contacted on numerous occasions on complaints of noise and general rowdiness caused by an ever increasing crowd (as mentioned by Houston City Councilman Bert Keller on KHOU-TV).
Even if warnings had been given to disperse from that lot on other occasions, and even if a warning given days before could be held to still be applicable (which would probably only be the case if the store owners had requested that the people being dispersed never come back to shop in their store again), the police arrested everyone without regard for whether individuals had been present for any earlier warnings. Certainly one cannot be held liable for failing to heed a warning one was not present to hear.
It may be that some of the people who were arrested deserved it. It could even be that most of them did. Even if 2/3 of the arrests were legitimate, however, that would in no way excuse the cops' deliberate harassment of 90+ people whom there was clearly no cause to arrest.
Separate issue, therefore irrelevant.
How in the world is this irrelevant? This establishes a pattern of wide sweeps with disregard for evidence of individual guilt. And MAJOR jumping to conclusions.
Because the police made no effort to separate legitimate patrons from loiterers in either raid, they destroyed their own credibility.
Obviously false. If anyone is contributing to the destruction of the credibility of the Houston Police Department, it is the news media, who has deliberately tried to make this look like an act of the Keystone Kops on a group of little angels.
Obviously false? Based on what evidence? The government is always right?
I'd love to see the objective criteria applied there, since some of the people had actually made purchases. Milk, ok. Soft drink, you're going to jail, buddy. Bread, ok. Candy bar, cuff'em Danno.
Given that he was undercover, those receiving the card would have likely chunked it anyway as people are always handing out junk in stores.
Not to mention the people arrested at Sonic and the people who just simply were not breaking any law.
Separate issue, therefore irrelevant.
Same police department, same methods, same result.
d you can thank our biased, leftist news media for it.
Why? Because they wouldn't cover up mass arrests of innocent people for Aguirre?
You know, I don't shed any tears for Rodney King or the other kid in Kali that got slapped around by the cops. They were guilty and they tried to mix it up with the cops. The cops may have crossed the line in those cases, but given the nature of the perps c'est la vie.
But this is nothing like that. The worst crime being committed was loitering and underage drinking. A family eating in their car at a drive in is not doing either. Someone in the process of leaving the parking lot is not loitering and it is pretty easy to tell if they have engaged in underage drinking.
The bottom line is that HPD did not care if the people they were arresting had committed a crime. As a result, even the arrests of the guilty become suspect, since in cases like this the entire validity of the charge rests solely on the testimony of the arresting officer.
They shot themselves in the foot, the liberal left wing media is just pointing and laughing.
To whom "they BELIEVED to be" legitimate customers?!?!?!
My, what insights these brilliant super-men possess. They have the power to walk into a department store, and relying on their keen perceptive abilities, discern who is and is not a legitimate customer.
That is absolutely preposterous. Do you honestly stand behind that ridiculous statement?