I listened to this being discussed on Houston's talk stations all day Monday. Neighborhood residents called. Police called. Some of those arrested called. You do not have enough knowledge of this story to be making these claims.
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Posted on 08/19/2002 10:13:04 PM PDT by 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.
Yes, but they were all creating the problem.
If you were familiar with Sonic, you would know that they are a drive in restaurant. They have no facilities inside at all. You have to eat in your car or if you're on foot, some of them have tables outside.
You are either insane or yanking my chain.
According to some here on FR, those kids HAD to have been guilty of criminal trespass or they would never had confessed their guilt.
The drug warriors amongst others come to mind..
Gore voters? LOL
Well, you have to be careful of what you ask for, because you may get it. If one supports the disabling of the police, one may get mob rule.
I'm not saying that the police should get cart blanche to do what they feel like, but that police action must strike a balance.
When mobs get out of control, it takes the polic force to control it, least we have anarchy, which doesn't look good from here.
There are, never have been and never will be perfect police. How about we teach our children to behave?
I don't think they would have pulled that in the former Soviet Union, never mind a country that is supposed to operate under a Constitution that includes a Bill of Rights.
Therefore, we should let them get away with major mistakes. Riiiight. And I don't see anything in this article indicating that this was a crowd going completely out of control.
Isn't it a felony under federal law to deny a person his or her civil rights under color of law?
I don't believe I have read a single post on any of the threads dealing with this story that even begins to suggest that the police should be disabled. But they could save themselves and the citizenry a lot of trouble by policing themselves and purging their departments of vigilante cops instead of covering their butts as has traditonally been the case. Out of control cops would be just as likely to incite mob rule if it became standard operating procedure. Like you said, there has to be a balance.
And I saw nothing in what sweetliberty said that smacked of her wanting to disable the police. She (from what I can see) thinks that the cop who made this mistake should pay for it/ that this will backfire on him.
There's two sides to this story and I have a feeling the adults have a more credible one.
Over here is the other side of the story.
I listened to this being discussed on Houston's talk stations all day Monday. Neighborhood residents called. Police called. Some of those arrested called. You do not have enough knowledge of this story to be making these claims.
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Not necessarily. He could be trying to distance himself from the fallout of the HPD doing the right thing against liberal whining, which would make him weak-minded, but not necessarily guilty.
He would want to keep his retirement, and why shouldn't he?
Who has a backbone anymore, anyway?
Hell, the White House is a bed and breakfast for the Saudis, isn't it?
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