Raid went to 'hell in a handbasket'

HoustonChronicle.com ^ | Aug. 19, 2002, 11:24PM | S.K. BARDWELL

[niki]

Raid went to 'hell in a handbasket'

Officers say Kmart bust was flubbed

By S.K. BARDWELL Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford ordered an investigation Monday into the weekend arrests of hundreds of people gathered peacefully at a westside parking lot by police who were assigned to stop illegal drag racing.

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.

Police on Sunday said 425 people were arrested, but Monday revised the count. Most were charged with criminal trespass.

"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.

Also taken into custody were 42 juveniles who were cited for violation of the city's midnight curfew. Thirty of the juveniles also were charged with criminal trespass.

Bradford issued a statement late Monday saying he had begun an inquiry into the arrests, including who was in charge and what instructions were given to the officers.

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."

Both police supervisors said the Sunday operation began under the supervision of Westside Patrol Capt. John Mokwa, in whose area it took place.

But when Aguirre angered Mokwa during a command staff meeting by insisting he knew how the operation should be conducted, he and Mokwa got the permission of an assistant chief for Aguirre to take over, the supervisors said.

Neither Aguirre nor Mokwa returned calls Monday.

The supervisors said the operation was part of a series of recent police efforts to stop illegal drag racing.

During a June 15 raid, police found more than 300 cars gathered in the 7100 block of Business Park Drive, where eight people were arrested for reckless driving and three for public intoxication. Police also issued 32 traffic tickets and cited 16 juveniles for breaking the city's curfew.

On June 22, another raid in the 7000 block of Westheimer to Texas 6 netted five arrests for reckless driving and 65 tickets.

Bradford's statement also said he plans to investigate why police arrested the people gathered in the parking lots instead of issuing citations as in the previous operations.

The Sunday raid "was a complete waste of weeks of work and a huge amount of manpower," said one of the supervisors.

"There are all those kids now, who have a criminal record, and don't deserve it," said the other supervisor.

Hundreds of young people gather in the parking lots of the Kmart and adjacent Sonic on weekend nights.

Those businesses and others in the area, as well as nearby residents, have in the past complained about the noise and litter, police said.

Police were interested in the spot's role as a race staging area, where young drivers admire one another's vehicles, then go to other nearby locations to race, said one of the supervisors.

The two supervisors said police had "scout cars" and undercover officers working surveillance at the gathering spot for weeks in preparation for Sunday's raid.

"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.

Monday, Kmart corporate spokeswoman Susan Dennis acknowledged the store has had complaints about the weekend night crowds.

"Our first concern is the safety of our customers and associates," Dennis said. "As for the action taken, that was the police. There was no directive from Kmart."

A woman who answered the phone at the Sonic on Monday said no one there wished to speak to the news media.

HPD's internal affairs division was flooded Monday with people filing complaints over their arrests.

"I was eating ice cream from the Sonic when I was arrested," 19-year-old Emily Demmler said Monday. She and several friends, all of whom were arrested, met at Demmler's house Monday to go file IAD complaints.

An IAD officer said many of those who filed complaints Monday were discussing lawsuits over the incident.

"I don't feel safe anywhere now," Demmler said of the experience. "It was really wrong, what they did."

Many of those arrested Sunday pleaded guilty in order to get out of jail quicker and go about the business of retrieving their cars, all of which were towed away.

Martin DeLeon, an HPD spokesman, said the tow fee is $103 and the storage fee averages about $15 a day, but some auto-storage facilities can charge more.

Ronald Beylotte, chief prosecutor for the city attorney's office, said the cases that are set for trial will probably be scheduled in four to six weeks.

Aguirre has run afoul of department policy many times in his 20 years with HPD.

The most recent, an allegation that Aguirre used foul and threatening language to his subordinates, garnered the captain a written reprimand from Bradford, which was overturned by an arbitrator.

That incident also resulted in an investigation of perjury allegations against Bradford, who testified at Aguirre's hearing that he doesn't use profanity to his subordinates.

Bradford later was contradicted by an assistant chief, who testified that Bradford had once called him a quite profane name.

[supercat]

I hope they do get sued. Maybe not excessively, but enough for it to smart and enough that people can recover the expenses associated with having their cars towed and some compensation for the inconvenience and humiliation to the kids and their parents.

Mr. Aguirre should be held personally liable for all of the towing charges, plus at least $250 per arrest, plus court costs. He deliberately acted with deliberate and wanton disregard for the fact that many of those arrested were committing no crime; he should receive no immunity for any torts resulting therefrom.

Of course, we all know that what will happen instead is that the taxpayers will have to foot the bill while Mr. Aguirre gets off scott free.

[Dec31,1999]

I agree that some strong action should have taken place before the hang-out grew to the hundreds. Nonetheless, one has no idea how disturbing these crowds of Gore voters can be until witnessed first-hand.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Ordinarily I would say that a public apology would be in order

I said I was sorry... geeez. Your not gonna post that picture of hillary again are you?

[sweetliberty]

"I said I was sorry... geeez. Your not gonna post that picture of hillary again are you?"

It's okay OCC. I will spare you this time. But you are on probation. LOL!

[niki]

Customers eating food at Sonics were arrested. There is no excuse for what happened here, NONE!

[Dec31,1999]

Oh good. What is your address? We will create one of these hang-outs in front of your house and see how you like it, since you are so tolerant, OK?

But don't expect to get any sleep.

Then you can talk about sweet liberty.

Brings out the libertarian in me!

[operation clinton cleanup]

It's okay OCC. I will spare you this time. But you are on probation. LOL!

Can I do a doughnut in the parking lot on the way out?

[sweetliberty]

I never said I liked being around where a bunch of teenagers are hanging out, but it doesn't change the fact that the cops. by their own admission, screwed up big time and that the cop in charge was an insubordinate @ssh*le. There were better ways of handling it.

[sweetliberty]

"Can I do a doughnut in the parking lot on the way out?"

Doesn't sound like a real good idea in Houston.

[Dec31,1999]

Perfect police are impossible. I agree that more should have been done sooner, but people would have complained that the situation was not so bad at the time.

Please move your home to within 1,000 feet of a youth hang-out and you may understand. How about obscenities and peeling out at 4 am Thursday?

Lovers' arguements at 3am on a Monday morning?

Crack addicts screaming their heads off at 5:30 am Tuesday when you're waking up to go to work? OK with you? This is freedom?

[niki]

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.

This is freedom?

The situation you are describing is not the case here.

[Don Joe]

"Sounds like Captain Aguirre might be exploring career possibilities in the private sector very soon."

I'd rather see people like him retained in the public sector for quite a while.

The phrase "three hots and a cot" should enter into the resolution of this situation.

[Dec31,1999]

Agreed. However, it's clear you don't have to live around it. What if you did live within 1,000 feet of this kind of mob?

What would you do?

What if you couldn't afford to live away from it?

What would you do?

What would you do if a mob of low class young people came from 30 miles around made your nights unbearable?

[niki]

Your welcome.

I have to admit I am shocked by a lot of the responses to this situation from freepers. If freepers are the last line of defense against tyranny we are in deep trouble.

[niki]

You deal with the people who are creating the problem. You don't just round up any citizen in sight and throw them in jail.

[Don Joe]

"You deal with the people who are creating the problem. You don't just round up any citizen in sight and throw them in jail."

I don't know what's more frightening -- the fact that you have to explain this to people, or the fact that even after you explain it, they still don't get it.

[Dec31,1999]

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.

I could be wrong, but it sounds like whining.

Why weren't they eating food IN the Sonic? And anyone can say they "had been" shopping at KMart. Sure they were. They were looking at items they didn't buy, 'cause they were bored, or were taking a break from the crowd.

You know, really, you shouldn't be so naive.

Nonetheless, I appreciate your post.

Keep in touch.

[sweetliberty]

You do not know that these kids were low class. That aside, in all honesty, I wouldn't handle it well living anywhere there were that many people to begin with. I am under the impression that this was not a residential neighborhood however, and that does put a bit of a different light on it. And no, I wouldn't want to go somewhere to shop where the parking lot was overrun with them either.

I am not saying at all that they should have been ignored, although apparently they have been pretty much all along except for the drag racing, but there was absolutely no excuse for the behavior of the cops in this instance. What I see here is a case of a planned raid going bad and a cop who had stood to make a few brownie points was frothing at the mouth because it didn't go as planned and he was gonna make somebody pay. I think ultimately, he will be the one who pays because this one is going to backfire big time. Cops may look after their own, but not when one hot dog cop embarasses the entire department, and apparently this isn't the first time. My guess is that they are going to make an example of him to save face and deflect lawsuits.

[JediGirl]

bump

[sweetliberty]

"I don't know what's more frightening -- the fact that you have to explain this to people, or the fact that even after you explain it, they still don't get it."

Excellent point.