The plan that led to the arrests of hundreds of teenagers at Kmart, Sonic

KHOU TV Houston ^ | August 24, 2002 | By Jeff McShan

[Dog Gone]

"Simply issuing citations has had little or no impact"

08/23/2002

By Jeff McShan / 11 News

HOUSTON (KHOU) -- With parents still fuming over the arrests of hundreds of teenagers for trespassing, 11 news has learned the chief, himself, was apparently in on the planning for Operation E-racer.

Houston Police Chief Clarence Bradford made it clear this week that the raid on Westheimer would be thoroughly investigated. Hundreds were arrested in a sting operation set up to curtail street racers and trespassers.

But many have filed complaints saying the arrests were unjust. People like Emily Demmler. "I was handcuffed. I was put in the back of a van," she said. "And I sat in a jail cell from 4:00 to 9:00."

Monday night Chief Bradford called for an investigation of the controversial crackdown. He wanted to know who was in charge? What instructions were given to officers? And why were arrests made instead of issuing citations?

Who was in charge? It turned out to be HPD Captain Mark Aguirre. He told 11 news that he was surprised the chief had so many questions about the raid. "It was my understanding that Chief Bradford was in the loop," said Aguirre. "I assume that. Nothing of this magnitude would escape his attention."

Friday night 11 News obtained an interoffice correspondence, which appears to back Captain Aguirre's beliefs. The memo is the plan for last weekend's raid. It was sent to Chief Bradford on May 13, months ago.

In the correspondence Captain Aguirre explains to the chief the proposed solution for the problems in that area and why issuing tickets would not work.

Aguirre says, "Simply issuing citations has had little or no impact. By arresting individuals observed violating local, state or federal laws and towing violators' vehicles, law enforcement will have more of an influence over the individuals' future behavior."

Yesterday most, if not all, the officers involved in the raid were told to report to police headquarters where they picked up a set of over 20 questions. They'll all have to answer the inquiries about what happened last weekend, such as who was in charge. The questions came from HPD's Internal Affairs Division, which is investigating along with the Houston's Office of Inspector General.

[Ramius]

Chief Bradford is trying to play stupid, like he didn't know of these raids in advance. He was in on it from the start.

Sounds more like there was a plan that he approved to presumably deal with drag racing, but that was very different from the way this operation ended up.

I'm thinking that this officer Aguirre is merely a cowboy on a personal power trip. Most departments have them, and sometimes it takes a while to weed them out.

Security Guard Aguirre... coming soon to a mall near you. :-)

[Dog Gone]

Where have you been? This is only about the 10th story posted on this topic. Did you read the link provided up the thread?

Calling us liberals and leftists while you are proving your ignorance is hardly an intelligent argument on your part.

[Ramius]

They needed to arrest parents and their kids who were only having a burger at Sonic?

[freebilly]

Do a search on some of the other articles posted about this incident before you shoot off you authoritarian mouth.

[dinasour]

Kinda puts a different spin on the "Blue Light Special"

[freebilly]

Yeah, tall happy jerkoff....

[Ramius]

This article stated they were not law abiding.

Dude, you need to catch up. They didn't just go into the parking lot and arrest all the kids that were loitering there. They also arrested customers coming out of the store who were only walking to their cars, and all of the customers eating at the Sonic that shares the parking lot.

Even about the loitering kids... Here'a question for you: Can police come onto private property and arrest people for trespass when NO COMPLAINT was filed by the property owner?

[Dog Gone]

I'm thinking that this officer Aguirre is merely a cowboy on a personal power trip.

I don't think there's much doubt that Aguirre was the most responsible for these illegal arrests. This news story doesn't state who gave the TV station a copy of the memo to Chief Bradford, but it isn't hard to figure out. It was Aguirre, and he's trying to spread the blame as much as he can.

There's plenty to spread.

[BluesDuke]

...many arrested were eating at the local drive in at the time of their arrest..can you explain to me how this is a jailable offense?

Careful. There are those among us who would like to make eating at the local fast-food drive-in a jailable offence. (Got to fight the War on Obesity, don't you know...)

[Dog Gone]

Here are some more links for those who prefer to be informed before proving otherwise.

Raid on Kmart lot leaves shock, anger
Raid on Kmart lot leaves shock, anger
Raid on Kmart lot leaves shock, anger
Raid went to 'hell in a handbasket' Officers say Kmart bust was flubbed
Policing the police after Kmart raid
Raid at hot dog joint preceded Kmart bust
(Kmart Raid) Sonic officials say raid at restaurant unwanted
ACLU plans to file suit over Kmart arrests
Berry watched (Kmart) raid, but didn't question police

[Ramius]

Yes, there seems to be plenty to spread around. The other officers at the scene certainly could have refused to participate if they believed they were being given an unlawful order.

I'm willing to give them a little more benefit of the doubt, however. One would've needed to be there to get the whole picture, but I'm guessing that the clarity of hindsight wasn't there. One can refuse an unlawful order but it gets somewhat murkier when orders are merely unwise. Which this was may not have been clear at the moment.

That said: it's the guy who gave the order that must bear the responsibility for the fallout. Sounds like he's already on the chopping block for similar events in the past.

[joesnuffy]

Attention KMART shoppers..... RED light special...

[Dog Gone]

One would've needed to be there to get the whole picture, but I'm guessing that the clarity of hindsight wasn't there.

The only thing that cuts against that is that they had done two raids like this last weekend, on both Friday night and Saturday night. Without a doubt, many of the same officers were involved.

They had a whole day to think about what they had done, and then they went out and did it again.

[Ramius]

I'd like to see some more on the other angle: Even for the kids that were loitering in the parking lot, what was the basis for a trespass arrest?

As I understand it, the KMart had complained about drag racing that was happening from time to time in some part of their parking lot. It makes sense that police can respond to that complaint and arrest people accordingly. But here they had no such activity, and were not called by KMart to remove all teenagers from their lot.

If KMart doesn't press charges on anyone at the scene, as it sounds like is the case, then all this was a creation of the overzealous cop.

I think we all knew somebody like this from back in High School. In my home town there was one cop that everybody in school knew about. He just plain hated teenagers. Every day, he'd cruise the parking lot of the school, or sit across from the school. He'd just wait for some kid to chirp the tires, or drive out so he could give a ticket for doing 27 in a 25 zone. Then there was the time he pulled over the driver's ed car and spent about a half hour terrifying a little girl who was behind the wheel for the first time in her life. He even called for backup and surrounded the car with lights and sirens. The drivers ed teacher finally lost his temper and demanded to know why they were pulled over. The teacher was threatened with arrest, but about then all the cops just left. There was actually no reason for the stop.

[Thud]

ping

[Double Tap]

Plenty of evidence has already been posted about this over the last couple of days. HPD made many false arrest and will pay for it. Lawsuits have been filed.

You don't know what you are talking about, or you are an fascist idiot.

[Thud]

"They had a whole day to think about what they had done, and then they went out and did it again."

And for the first complaints to come in, including from Coney Island's representatives.

[lonestar]

Until 10 years ago I lived off Westheimer, west of the Galleria area. I remember it being so bad on Friday and Saturday nights that traffic couldn't move.

This sounds a little extreme, but if it has gotten anything close to what it was like back then, something needed to be done. Traffic should move on the busiest streets in town!

[drjoe]

Ah, I can here the Gestapo and Staatspolizei now: "I vas ust followink orders" Oh for a can of Zyklon B or similar anti-crowd agent. Hispanics are not as good as Jews for this sort of thing are they, but in a pinch they will just have to do.

[Dog Gone]

I just sent a couple of links to the Houston Chronicle stories on this to Bill O'Reilly at Fox, noting that this amazing story has not been picked up by the national news. I also stated that most Houston residents don't have much faith that the Police Department will investigate itself.

This sounds like the populist kind of story that he would like, so we'll see if he bites on it.