HPD Chief Bradford told the city council he was out of town during the raid.
Posted on 08/28/2002 10:53:58 AM PDT by Dog Gone
HPD Chief Bradford told the city council he was out of town during the raid.
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The chief came to answer questions from council members, but he says he has a lot of questions and concerns himself about how police handled Operation Erase. The operation was ostentiously designed to cut down on street racing. The problem is, the chief says, no one was actually arrested for street racing that weekend.
On the weekend of August 17-18, in the 8400 block of Westheimer at Dunvale, the K-mart parking lot was a gathering place for young people who would usually come to see those races. Two hundred seventy-three people were arrested and taken to jail. The chief says that wasn't supposed to happen either. Most of those folks, many of them juveniles, were actually arrested for trespassing or attempted trespassing, which is a minor offense. The chief says the normal procedure would be to issue a citation, not take all those folks to jail.
Another thing, the chief says, is there a few memos saying there may be 'mass arrests.' But he says in department language, that usually means about seven people or more, certainly nothing of this scale.
So what went wrong? The chief says he's hoping an internal investigation will tell him that answer, as well as council members, but that's weeks away. In the meantime, he does say when all this went down, he was out of town.
HPD Chief C.O. Bradford told city council, "I never saw this plan, never heard about this plan, until the week after the event. It is my understanding that this particular plan was discussed at a lower level in the organization, as well as being disapproved of parts of that particular plan."
It appears the captain in charge of the operation, Captain Mark Aguirre, is currently relieved of duty with pay. Aguirre apparently is the one who came up with the plan. According to the chief's statement, other officers allege criminal misconduct on the part of Captain Aguirre. Aguirre has denied that through his attorney. He is one of 13 superiors in the police department who is on paid leave right now.
I was thinking the same thing! Welcome to the Shorthand News...
Thank you for your continuing updates on this issue. As a houstonian, I am very interested in this whole ordeal and am eager to learn how this is all going to turn out.
Houston Police chief answered city council's question on K-Mart arrest
08/28/2002
HOUSTON (KHOU) -- Ten days after the controversial police raid at a west side K-Mart, the political storm is intensifying. From lawsuits to police suspensions, the raid has been trouble for city leaders. And on Tuesday, the Houston Police chief found himself at the center of the storm.
Before Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford took questions about the August 17 K-Mart parking-lot fiasco, he described the current policies within HPD.
"Zero tolerance," said Bradford. "We spent a lot of discussion on zero tolerance. Zero tolerance refers to enforcement of all laws by writing citations for all minor offenses."
Bradford continued to say those minor offenses usually result in warnings or tickets, not arrests.
"The department's posture is for the officers to use citations for minor Class C offenses, with exception to those that breach the peace and public intoxication," said Bradford.
The chief said he did not okay the bust, but he has and does support the policies in affect to arrest street racers.
Bradford said, "I knew that we had, in fact, a plan for street racing initiative. We have had several discussions about plans of actions to deal with street racing initiative."
The chief stopped short of actually uttering the words, "The department made a mistake." But he did admit, under tough questioning, that there is no record of K-Mart filing a trespassing affidavit. So, did the officers have the right to go on the property and make the arrest?
All those facts are still under investigation. The question and answer session with the police chief lasted for more than two hours.
The result of Project Eraser was 278 arrests and 13 HPD supervisors relieved of duty pending the results of the investigation. It is the largest number of police officers relieved of duty for one single event in HPD's history.
He's facing a bit more than that. And whether convicted or not, he also qualifies as a likely candidate for the application of the Texas official misconduct statute...which is one of those that falls under the state's antiracketeering laws as well.
United States Code, Title 18, U.S. Criminal Code, Section 242
- Deprivation of rights under color of law:
Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death
***** *****
Texas Penal Code
TITLE 8. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
(§39.03. Official oppression.
(a) A public servant acting under color of his office or employment commits an offense if he:
(1) intentionally subjects another to mistreatment or to arrest, detention, search, seizure, dispossession, assessment, or lien that he knows is unlawful;
(2) intentionally denies or impedes another in the exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power, or immunity, knowing his conduct is unlawful; or
(3) intentionally subjects another to sexual harassment.
(b) For purposes of this section, a public servant acts under color of his office or employment if he acts or purports to act in an official capacity or takes advantage of such actual or purported capacity.
(c) In this section, "sexual harassment" means unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, submission to which is made a term or condition of a person's exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power, or immunity, either explicitly or implicitly.
(d) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
***** *****
Texas Penal Code
TITLE 11. ORGANIZED CRIME
CHAPTER 71. ORGANIZED CRIME
§71.01. Definitions.
In this chapter,
(d) "Criminal street gang" means three or more persons having a common identifying sign or symbol or an identifiable leadership who continuously or regularly associate in the commission of criminal activities.
Interesting. I wonder if they asked about the signs and when they were placed.
HPD is in serious trouble here.
So, did the officers have the right to go on the property and make the arrest?
That's a $100 million question. And, I believe the answer is now.
Does that phrase mean that the victims will have to prove that race was an issue?
Does that phrase mean that the victims will have to prove that race was an issue?
No. See the preceeding phrase as well:
or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race....
So it can be for either subjecting any person in a State [Texas]to the deprivation of a right, privilege, or immunity protected by the Constitution, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien or because of colour or race than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens....
I don't doubt that some Hispanics/Indios were involved in the HPD roundup, which might offer the interesting possibility that *somebody* in the HPD could well end up facing felony 18 USC #212 charges, quite possibly on multiple counts, making a civil racketeering lawsuit [triple damages and 1.5 times usual attorney's fees, typically $295/hour, therefore boosted to $442.50 an hour, not a bad wage....] even more likely.
I don't know. You might think that this report would have mentioned it if it had come up.
The interesting fact is that there was no K-Mart affidavit. We know that Sonic hadn't complained.
For some reason, the police thought it was important to have an affidavit from the property owner for the raid the previous night at the other location. You almost HAVE to assume that they tried to get one for this raid, and were turned down. That raises all kinds of interesting questions.
Looks like K-Mart didn't know. If so, unless Texas law allows open-ended punitive damages awards against public entities, the bill to Houston taxpayers will probably be under $100 million.
Yep. Between not having the private property owner's permission and planting the signs. They are in big trouble.
Errr, "now" should be "no".
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