Posted on 06/20/2015 12:21:51 PM PDT by Elderberry
WACO - On a recent Sunday, a Cossacks Motorcycle Club officer nicknamed Diesel sipped a Diet Dr Pepper on the patio of Twin Peaks and broke the news to his son, who was also a member.
The 63 Cossacks and their supporters at the restaurant were not just waiting to have lunch with fellow bikers from around Central Texas. They had come for a special sit down with the Bandidos, to hash out an ongoing dispute.
Before their meal arrived, Diesel was shot, execution-style, with two bullets to the back of his head.
Cody Ledbetter, 26, survived the May 17 melee that left nine people dead, 18 wounded and 177 charged with engaging in organized crime.
His first-hand account of his father's death - and what played out just before and after - was shared with the Houston Chronicle from his home in Waco.
He disputes any contention by Waco police that there was a planned brawl between rival motorcycle gangs. He says the Cossacks were not expecting to fight. Instead, tough talk quickly escalated to bullets.
(Excerpt) Read more at houstonchronicle.com ...
BFD
I can already see variations of this model happening around the nation in the next few years to all kinds of clubs, and not just Harley clubs, that identify themselves with club logos and do things that remotely threaten "law enforcement." Think historical shooter societies, remote-control flying clubs, hunting clubs. While the vast majority if not all of them may be innocent of criminal activity, law enforcement has a method to categorize them into a certain kind of group, identify the emblems they wear as insignia of a criminal group, and the MSM presents a these clubs only idenfied as as "criminals according to police experts" -- taking years to sort out the truth, while the liveliehoods of the targets are permanently crippled, reputations smeared, and "arrest records" established for further demonization.
Even if every single one of these Waco folks are found totally innocent, it is too late. That's the beauty of this model for the authoritarian tyrants using it -- it will always be too late for the individuals harmed, once they're are arrested and subjected to "investigation" and the media circus propagandizing gullible citizens shifts into gear.
Ah - the 11 Bandidos who arrived in the trucks weren’t wearing vests.
Did the Bandido-side bikers that, according to a witness, blew past the six cop cars and started blasting after being offered an old-fashioned rumble in the parking lot with fisticuffs, brass knuckles, and batons, think the cops were just going to ignore them? Maybe so -- Bandidos were barely in the death count, if at all.
Did the Texas Cossacks, who according to every single police report I can find are guilty ONLY of being subjected to harassment and attack from Bandidos solely for wearing a patch saying "Texas," hardly against the law, and then engaging in illegal-by-definition retaliation solely against Bandidos for the attacks, think the police were going to back them up?
After all, the police hadn't done much except try to "ease tensions between the two clubs" in terms of stopping the Bandidos from forcefully preventing people from doing something perfectly legal and within their rights.
These are just trees in a raging forest fire. The pretense for arresting a whole lot of bikers regardless of criminality and causing extreme personal damage to private citizens in a distinct demographic was successfully accomplished and quite plainly, there will few if any negative consequences for the authorities/cops/feds who did it.
Your comments are refreshing, because there are a few Freepers who immediately assume the police are wrong in every case. Hard to believe.
As for what you prefer to think represents "a few Freepers" who state clearly that this think stinks like law enforcement abuse of power, I have counted 159. The "few Freepers" are the ones who think the cops are blameless and the bikers "probably" deserved it; I've only counted 73 so far. The FReepers smart enough to see through this charade more than double your numbers. Maybe not posts, but in individual voices.
Well, since nobody here knows exactly what happened, I will take the word of the police over the bikers, until I see proof of something different. That is the difference. I don’t immediately assume the cops are in the wrong.
If I am in the minority, I really don’t care.
Evidence:
Waco PD official press release:
1. twelve rounds were fired from high powered rifles by Waco PD.
2. that means twelve targets were hit.
3. we know that much happened.
Nobody here claims to know exactly what happened. What they DO claim is to know what didn't happen. I don't know what happened, but I will take the "word" of my own common sense, INFORMED point of view, and reason over the word of the MSM, bikers OR the police.
You are taking the word of the MSM. These news stories are only telling you what the police are telling them, and telling you selectively, leaving other things OUT, such as the fact that two thirds arrested lacked criminal records, or that the Bandido-affiliated shooters and provokers of the fight had only moments earlier driven their bikes past SIX marked police cars parked at the entrance of the parking lot.
The MSM didn't tell you that, but if you do a little research, you'll find that the POLICE even state they had at least six marked cop cars in plain view. If you do a little research, you'll find that the Cossacks are NOT ONE SINGLE TIME held responsible by police for any actual crimes other than reacting to aggressive violence by Bandidos against their persons.
You are accepting the spoon-fed version that the MSM is serving you, the same as I did for the first two weeks.
I see this as a small crack into the real story of what happened that day in Waco.
It also is the first time I have read about an injury sustained by a bullet from who knows where that has left a man paralyzed from the waist down.
What other long term or life long disabilities have happened and from what shooters.
So many questions. So few answers.
This reads like a novel which is of course on purpose. The idea is to paint a certain picture just like reading any good book in the mind of the reader.
Gotta give the author kudos for it.
If you are willing to ignore mass arrest with no individualized probable cause, excessive bonds required, and ever changing police accounts (among other things)...then Yeah, this thing is just about wrapped up.
(God help us.)
“Cossacks where already at the restaurant, the Banditos pull up, and the Cossacks crashed the party? A party that was a confederation of colors?”
There were 2 different meetings planned for that day. The Confederation of Clubs meeting was scheduled for 1pm on the patio.
The meeting Ledbetter refers to between the Cossacks and Bandidos was supposed to be at 11am, which is why the Cossacks were there at 11am. They weren’t early, the Bandidos were late.
It all sounds like a lot of BS. That’s the first time I’ve heard that one.
Yup. Rusty's Rangers. Dude named Massey, iirc...
“Thats the first time Ive heard that one.”
One of the early eye-witness reports was from a Cossack leader which was published in the Washington Post, and posted on conservativetreehouse.
That testimony was ignored by most FReepers at the time because the man wanted to remain anonymous in fear for his life, and because it was in the WaPo.
However, compare that testimony to Ledbetter’s. The initial action described and first deaths are consistent with each other.
The information the first account provides is that the sit-down with the Bandidos was supposed to be at 11am.
Take it for what it is. If there was an 11am meeting that the Cossacks expected, it explains why they were there so much earlier than the 1pm Confederation meeting. It means they did not arrive at 11am to crash a 1pm Confederation meeting.
kind of what I thought....
The government will take this and perfect their tactics. Not only are these people's lives in turmoil today but they'll always have that stigma even if proven innocent. Every job application they'll have to explain why they were let were let go of their job in 2015 and their mug shot will be on the internet forever when future employers do a search. Or why they had their car reposed for not making payments or their family got kicked out of their home because they had to pay for lawyers and now they have no savings and their credit is messed up. How many have lost custody of their kids over this? The list goes on. This is notice to us all just how quickly our lives can be ruined by the very people we voted into office to protect us.
This is why I really hope justice prevails in the long run and all those wrongly arrested are financially taken care of. I would expect $2 mil each should do it. If they invest wisely they can live the rest of their lives without working but I hope they can find employment or restore their businesses.
Then maybe next time a prosecutor won’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
The key I was referring to was the Undercover I think that is where it started. Sorry if thought I was rolling over. NEVER. ( this is why I do not post often not easily understood. lol) I am still where I have always been it stinks.
Does anyone doubt that u/c on the job on 5/17?
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