Posted on 08/26/2002 3:55:11 PM PDT by Dog Gone
An attorney for Houston Police Capt. Mark Aguirre said that a memo dated Aug. 13 to Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford showed that there would be mass arrests in a crackdown on street racing.
Aguirre's attorney said that if his client is reprimanded over the raid, the police chief should be as well.
"For the chief's office now to say they didn't know there were going to be mass amount of arrests out there, it's just not true," said Terry Yates, Aguirre's attorney.
Aguirre was behind "Operation Eracer," where 278 people were arrested on Aug. 17 in the parking lot of Kmart, 8400 Westheimer Road.
Many of those arrested said they were innocent and filed complaints with HPD.
"If there's something wrong with that, then Chief Bradford is just as responsible as Capt. Aguirre," Lewis said.
Aguirre has been relieved of duty while the internal affairs division investigates the case.
Yates filed a temporary restraining order, asking for a stop to the investigation.
"That should be done by a panel appointed by city council or the mayor's office -- a side apart from (internal affairs division), which is controlled directly by Chief Bradford," Lewis said.
|
Residents in the neighborhood where Aguirre patrols support him and said that he has helped clean up the area.
"Everything he's done over there has been for the good of the whole community. We have never seen anyone work as hard as he has to try to solve the problems that we have over there," former Houston city councilman Felix Fraga said.
"I feel terrible for him because I feel that the man has worked hard to work to get where he is and to help the rest of us and I feel that this is unjust and I feel that a lot of it starts at the top," resident Sam Lasell said. "I don't think that it's all his fault."
"He's controversial. There's no doubt about that. But he has done the citizens of this community a great service and served them admirably for 23 years," Lewis said.
The Houston chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Monday in connection with the parking lot sting.
The ACLU filed it on behalf of Justin Esparza. Aguirre and the city of Houston are listed as defendants.
An ACLU attorney expects that more lawsuits will be filed.
While Aguirre claimed headquarters was in on every step of the raid, the News2Houston Investigators obtained an internal Houston Police Department memo that contradicts that.
Many of Aguirre's fellow HPD managers said the memo mapped out the full plans for "Operation Eracer" and it mentions nothing about arresting everyone in sight, according to an exclusive News2Houston report.
The document is dated just before the raid.
Assistant chief C.A. McClelland wrote that he approved the plan of action submitted by Aguirre.
Throughout the five-page memo, it mentioned that the operation was aimed at eliminating street racing, and then on page three, it listed specifics.
The memo said only those identified as "racers" will be arrested.
Curfew violators or those drinking in public would be arrested too, but for everyone else -- the spectators -- the memo said they would be told to leave, then they would be checked for license and insurance -- a zero tolerance-type crackdown.
The plan approved by headquarters said citations would be issued for all violations discovered in the sweep.
Nowhere in the memo is there a single mention of arresting people for trespassing, which is the charge that sent 378 people to jail that night.
Fellow HPD supervisors told News2Houston that they were completely caught off guard when the raid detailed in the memo turned into an "arrest everyone on site" operation.
Aguirre signed the bottom of the memo, which is much more recent than the memo from May that he's now using to show that headquarters knew what he was up to.
In the May memo, Aguirre made a brief mention of mass arrests, but offered no specifics.
Curfew violators or those drinking in public would be arrested too, but for everyone else -- the spectators -- the memo said they would be told to leave, then they would be checked for license and insurance -- a zero tolerance-type crackdown.
Exactly the point I've made...they can do lots of things legally. But Aguirre decided to play stormtrooper...and shatter (not just break!) the law.
So why didn't they "Just Say No"?
I would love to hear what the other Captain has to say about this whole mess.
Captain Aguirre is hispanic, but there's no information that he got his job through affirmative action. It's possible, but he seems to be fairly bright and certainly motivated. He's also a bully and a jerk and a thug who I believe deserves jail time, but a token he isn't.
The police chief is black. Bradford was chosen by our Mayor, Lee Brown, who is definitely an affirmative action token. The police chief strikes me as being 100 times brighter than our mayor, but he's a liberal who won't arrest illegal aliens because he doesn't think they're breaking our laws, and he's currently under investigation himself for possible perjury charges.
I don't know that I'd categorize him as an affirmative action token, but I think it's probably accurate that the Mayor would only have hired a black candidate for Police Chief.
In all honesty, I don't think race is much of a factor in this story. It's fair to ask whether or not it is, but I haven't seen any evidence of it.
No, the article states that he signed the recent memo.
This really puts the heat on Aguirre. He had tried to blame his superiors with the earlier memo he had written, but this operational memo just before the raid shows that he went far beyond what he had agreed to do.
I'm curious how they intended to arrest all street racers (who they never found). How do you go about identifying a street racer in a parking lot, especially since that's not where they raced?
Racing helmets and numbers painted on side doors?
No, the article states that he signed the recent memo.
Sure he signed it but in this mind he probably did not agree with it. That maybe where the problem came up with the other Captain.
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
They're coming to take me away, ho ho, ha ha, he he, to the funny farm where life is wonderful all the time ...
"... but for everyone else -- the spectators -- the memo said they would be told to leave, then they would be checked for license and insurance -- a zero tolerance-type crackdown.The plan approved by headquarters said citations would be issued for all violations discovered in the sweep.
Nowhere in the memo is there a single mention of arresting people for trespassing, which is the charge that sent 378 people to jail that night.
Fellow HPD supervisors told News2Houston that they were completely caught off guard when the raid detailed in the memo turned into an "arrest everyone on site" operation.
Aguirre signed the bottom of the memo, which is much more recent than the memo from May that he's now using to show that headquarters knew what he was up to."
Interesting that we have not heard anything about the other captain. I wonder if he was 'relieved of duty' also.
Oh, that's not a hard guess. If you go back and read the early story about the raid "going to hell in a handbasket", that other captain HAD to be one of those who violated department policy by talking to the Chronicle.
The brass wants to can him for that, if nothing else.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.