Captain from Kmart raid to learn if he'll be fired

Houston Chronicle ^ | January 28, 2003 | By S.K. BARDWELL

[Dog Gone]

A Houston police captain who was suspended after a botched raid at a westside Kmart will learn within a week whether he will be fired, but his former sergeant quit today before a scheduled hearing in his case.

Sgt. Ken Wenzel, one of 13 officers suspended with pay over the Aug. 18 raid, decided to resign hours before he was to meet with acting Police Chief Tim Oettmeier.

Capt. Mark Aguirre went through with his Loudermill hearing, however, and was told that a decision will be made in the next few days on whether he will keep his job, said Terry Yates, a lawyer representing Aguirre in the departmental investigation.

Aguirre, a 23-year veteran of the department, also has been indicted on five counts of official oppression over the raid. He commanded the South Central Patrol Division before being suspended.

Loudermill hearings are named for a Cleveland, Ohio school bus mechanic who was fired after he failed an eye examination. The mechanic appealed the decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1985 that tenured employees must be granted a hearing before they are terminated.

After Oettmeier read the allegations against Aguirre aloud in today's hearing, "we spoke our piece," Yates said.

"Our position is that we did nothing wrong, either criminally or administratively," he said.

The raid in the 8400 block of Westheimer was planned to target drag racers. After finding none, however, officers arrested nearly 300 people on charges of trespassing and curfew violations.

A public uproar erupted after many of those arrested said they had been customers at the Kmart or a nearby drive-in restaurant, and all charges soon were dismissed. They are being expunged from the record at city expense, but several lawsuits have been filed against the city and police department.

Wenzel, like Aguirre, has been indicted on five counts of official oppression. Yates said the criminal cases will be tried sometime in the spring or summer.

He said Wenzel, who holds a law degree, opted to resign from the department rather than undergo a Loudermill hearing and possibly be fired.

"He has other things on his mind," Yates said of the 26-year veteran of the department. "He's going to be a fine attorney."

But in the criminal case and against any department discipline, Yates said he and Aguirre "will fight to the bitter end."

[Dinsdale]

Aguirre will have to find an honest job. WOT.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[MineralMan]

""Our position is that we did nothing wrong, either criminally or administratively," he said.

The raid in the 8400 block of Westheimer was planned to target drag racers. After finding none, however, officers arrested nearly 300 people on charges of trespassing and curfew violations. "

"We did nothing wrong," he said, thinking to himself that it's perfectly OK to arrest 300 people who were doing business in that mall. Feh! Fire him.

[TroutStalker]

He said Wenzel, who holds a law degree, opted to resign from the department rather than undergo a Loudermill hearing and possibly be fired.

"He has other things on his mind," Yates said of the 26-year veteran of the department. "He's going to be a fine attorney."

I'm sure he will be an outstanding officer of the court, and clients will be lining up to be represented by him.

[Dog Gone]

He said Wenzel, who holds a law degree, opted to resign from the department rather than undergo a Loudermill hearing and possibly be fired.

"He has other things on his mind," Yates said of the 26-year veteran of the department. "He's going to be a fine attorney."

Uh, based on what? His upcoming criminal conviction? Or his inability to determine probable cause for an arrest?

[MineralMan]

""He has other things on his mind," Yates said of the 26-year veteran of the department. "He's going to be a fine attorney."

Uh, based on what? His upcoming criminal conviction? Or his inability to determine probable cause for an arrest?"

Probably based on both, eh? This whole story has been one of the most annoying I can remember. 300 people hauled in, and not one of them had broken any law. What were they doing? Let's see....eating in a restaurant, shopping in the mall's stores? Pretty criminal sorts of activity, right?

But, hey, those cops were putting their lives on the line. Gotta respect 'em for that, right?

[Enterprise]

Oh hell, don't fire him. Bust him to patrolman and send him back through the academy. After he gets out, assign him to graveyards working weekends and holidays. At some point, he might learn how to do the job.

[GladesGuru]

Firing is a mere slap with a wet noodle. If criminal charges are sucessful, this lawyer to be will be practising delivery of his "Fries with your burger, Sir?" line instead of defiling an already abased profession.

Book 'em, convict 'em, refuse to patronize any fast food chain so degraded as to hire 'em.

[Dan Day]

"Our position is that we did nothing wrong, either criminally or administratively," he said.

Funny, the other police supervisors and officers who were involved have different opinions:

Officers on the scene called the arrests "utterly, utterly senseless" on Monday, and said the captain in charge, Mark Aguirre, ordered them to round up everyone who was outside the 24-hour Kmart Super Center or eating at the Sonic Drive-In next door.

The operation had been weeks in planning and involved dozens of officers. But officers involved said that when no drag racers were found, they were ordered to arrest the 278 people there.

"I couldn't believe we were being told to arrest all those kids. It was just utterly, utterly senseless," said one officer involved, who violated department policy by discussing the arrests and spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Captain Aguirre was put in charge, and it went to hell in a handbasket," said a police supervisor who was at the scene, also violating department policy and requesting anonymity.

Two police supervisors said Monday that Aguirre, captain of the South Central Patrol Division, had taken over the operation after a dispute with the assigned leader at a staff meeting. Both blamed Aguirre.

"That operation had been planned for weeks," one of the supervisors said. "It was not planned with the intent to arrest everyone in sight. It was to arrest drag racers."

"But we got out there, and no one was racing," said one of the supervisors. "So Aguirre just said, `Arrest them all for trespass.'

"It was like, `Kill them all and let God sort them out,' " said the other supervisor. "I guess we're just lucky he didn't order us to fire warning shots into the crowd or anything."

Both supervisors said many of the people arrested were not in cars. Many were eating food from the Sonic , which was open until 2 a.m., or had been shopping at Kmart.

[from various Houston Chronicle articles]

Throw the book at him, and throw him off the force. Houston doesn't need JBT's like Aguirre giving the rest of the officers a bad name. Houston has a fine police department, overall.

[MineralMan]

"Throw the book at him, and throw him off the force. Houston doesn't need JBT's like Aguirre giving the rest of the officers a bad name. Houston has a fine police department, overall.
"

I wonder: Didn't any of the other cops on scene there question this idiot's orders? I would have. It's obvious to anyone who has any knowlege of law enforcement that arresting 300 folks at a shopping mall, many of them eating at the Sonic or walking out of the Kmart, doesn't pass muster.

Or were they "just following orders." That excuse never works, to misquote Bullwinkle. Since every police officer is sworn to uphold the laws, it should be a no-brainer to actively question the orders of such an idiot. Sure, you'd get to face a disciplinary hearing for insubordination, but who cares? Some things, like not abusing one's uniform, are more important.

If a couple of the Sgts. on duty that night had spoken up and said that the Captain was being stupid, this whole thing might not have happened.

[Dog Gone]

Sgt. Weasel Wenzel collected over five months of pay during his suspension, but just happened to decide to retire hours before the hearing today.

Something about that rubs me the wrong way.

[MineralMan]

"Something about that rubs me the wrong way."

Yup. This whole thing stinks, and the responsibility actually lies higher up than even that Captain. Someone said that the Houston PD is a good one, but I see no evidence of that in this case. How many cops were on scene that night? Did _none_ of them offer the opinion that what they were doing was wrong?

Poor boys! They didn't catch their drag racers, so they thought they'd just arrest everyone in sight. Shoot...some of them had probably done something wrong anyhow, so what's the difference?

There's too much of this kind of thing going on out there. Most cops are just fine, I'm sure, but this kind of unlawful arrest nonsense seems to pop up a lot here on FR. What the heck's going on?

[Dog Gone]

Didn't any of the other cops on scene there question this idiot's orders?

No, they didn't, as best we know. The Houston Police Department apparently is not the most democratic of institutions, and a lot of officers describe a climate of fear and intimidation.

I'm sure some thought about questioning the orders, but it's a split second decision about protecting your own paycheck vs winning against police leadership.

I'm not defending it, but I think I know how it happened.

[Dinsdale]

They didn't catch their drag racers

They did'nt catch them but they were there, the cops unerring sense of criminality detected it. They could feel it in their feet. < /sarcasm >

[Henrietta]

"...tenured employees must be granted a hearing before they are terminated."

Which is more than all those people who were falsely arrested got...

[MineralMan]

"I'm sure some thought about questioning the orders, but it's a split second decision about protecting your own paycheck vs winning against police leadership.

I'm not defending it, but I think I know how it happened."


Sure. I know that, too. It's just that I want some folks on the police department who put right above their paycheck. Without that, almost anything can happen, as history teaches us.

I know how it happened. It happens all the time. That doesn't make it right, nor does it excuse the inaction on the part of the group of officers on the scene. If we cannot depend on our police departments to uphold the law, then we have no law at all.

The 300 people who were wrongfully arrested have every right to push this as hard as they can, and I hope they do. Perhaps a few cases like this will wake up some folks.

Or perhaps not.

[Henrietta]

"Most cops are just fine, I'm sure, but this kind of unlawful arrest nonsense seems to pop up a lot here on FR. What the heck's going on?"

Re-read your post, slowly, and ask yourself that question again.

[MineralMan]

""Most cops are just fine, I'm sure, but this kind of unlawful arrest nonsense seems to pop up a lot here on FR. What the heck's going on?"

Re-read your post, slowly, and ask yourself that question again."

I understand what you're saying, but on one hand, we have Freepers defending the police, as in the case of the dog shooting. On the other, we have Freepers jumping down the police's throats over other cases. Where's the consensus on this issue? How do you suggest we look at the police? As heroes? As thugs? I'm just saying that there's no simple answer to my question.

[Henrietta]

How about: fewer laws, and fewer police.

Not that I actually think that's going to happen anytime soon...

Thug cops are merely the natural consequence of the police state that, in many ways, our society is tending to resemble.