...
Holzer said the computer image glued onto the painting showed a phony photo of a man standing at the trade center with a jet flying toward it.
You gotta be effing kidding!
Posted on 01/25/2003 8:07:03 AM PST by Houmatt
Two police officers involved in the Kmart raid in which nearly 300 people were arrested are likely to be fired Tuesday, their lawyer and a union representative say.
The lawyer for Capt. Mark A. Aguirre, who ordered the raid, and for Sgt. Ken Wenzel said the Houston Police Department should wait to decide whether to fire them until after the two go to trial this summer on charges of official oppression.
Instead both are scheduled for hearings, at which it will be determined whether they should be fired Tuesday.
"Most people who have loudermill hearings get fired," lawyer Terry W. Yates said.
"They should allow us to have our day in court," he said. "They're rushing to judgment."
HPD spokesman Robert Hurst said the department is following proper procedures.
"Mr. Yates is fully aware of what the Houston Police Department disciplinary process is," he said.
Aguirre and Wenzel were indicted last month on five counts each of official oppression for the Aug. 18 sweep of a Kmart parking lot. The raid was intended to crack down on drag racing, but when no one was found drag racing, officers arrested hundreds on charges of trespassing and curfew violations.
Thirteen police officers were suspended with pay and all the trespassing and curfew violations dropped. No charges were filed against the other 11 officers implicated in the incident.
More officers are scheduled for hearings, Hurst said, but he said he did not know how many, who or when the hearings would be held. Hurst declined to comment further because the issue is a disciplinary matter.
Hans Marticiuc, president of the Houston Police Officers Union, said he expects Aguirre and Wenzel and possibly two more officers to be fired.
Acting Police Chief Timothy Oettmeier will report to City Council on Wednesday the results of an internal investigation of the Kmart incident.
Have you ever heard of police officers being fired before they have had their day in court?
Because I certainly don't, and considering the timing of this (that it would come shortly after Bradford's purjury case was thrown out), I hardly believe it is a coincidence.
If that lot is a constant problem, then they should run a chain after K-mart's closing time every Fri and Sat eves. That's what reasonable police departments do all over the country (and in my area specifically).
These officers sound like they ran off half-cocked and someone above them has to make an example. Shit always flows downhill in these cases. These two cost their department big bucks and brought ill will from the public. Their political superiors will undoubtedly kick their butts.
Sure. Since when is it required to have a court case before you fire someone?
It's not and it would be ridiculous to expect it. Even the unions haven't tried that crazy argument.
They have obsessed over this case, saying it was a Nazi takeover ad nauseum.
All the while others, such as myself calmly stated that if the officers had done wrong it would be investigated and addressed.
That is exactly what happened.
Nazis didn't take over. The sky was not falling.
Yes, I most certainly have...he was a veteran with 15 years service with a large department.
Former employee of museum is charged in tampering with painting
NEW YORK -- The famous oil painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River was vandalized at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, allegedly by a former museum employee who glued on a computer image depicting a fake view of the World Trade Center attack.
Emanuel Leutze's 1851 Washington Crossing the Delaware was quickly cleaned after last Saturday's incident.
"Conservators were brought to the scene within 15 minutes" after the painting was defaced, museum spokesman Harold Holzer said Friday. "It didn't leave any damage."
Holzer said the suspect, Robert Gray, 41, was a security guard who had worked briefly for the museum and for its upper-Manhattan branch, the Cloisters.
Gray managed to elude security guards but he was recognized when he returned there Thursday afternoon, Holzer said.
Police said Gray was charged with felony criminal mischief.
Holzer said the computer image glued onto the painting showed a phony photo of a man standing at the trade center with a jet flying toward it. The paper, about 8 by 11 inches, was affixed with a water-soluble glue to the bottom right corner of the huge 12-foot-by-20-foot painting.
The painting's famous Revolutionary War scene depicts Washington's attack on Hessian mercenaries at Trenton on Dec. 25, 1776. It shows Washington standing in a boat and James Madison holding an American flag as they're rowed across the Delaware.
The Met purchased the painting the same year it was painted, for the then-enormous sum of $10,000.
The painting is the second version the German-American artist painted of the historic event. The first version was damaged in his studio during a fire in 1850. It was restored, but was later damaged again.
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When I read this story, I finally realized what the likes of Dog Gone et al were trying to tell me.
In this particular case, for example, I can now clearly see and understand how Robert Gray was, in fact, not doing anything wrong. I certainly hope the city of New York does the right thing and prosecutes the arresting officers to the fullest extent of the law.
...
Holzer said the computer image glued onto the painting showed a phony photo of a man standing at the trade center with a jet flying toward it.
You gotta be effing kidding!
Absolutely not!
What these officers did was criminal, and outrageous, and they are not fit to be police officers. Whether they are able to get some 'OJ' jury to acquit them is irrelevant.
No, not in the least. I don't even begin to understand your mindset in this matter.
You are not entitled to keep your job until you're convicted or acquitted of a crime. You get to keep it until you don't do your job appropriately.
These folks who planned this raid should not be working for a police department ever again. It's no fair to the citizens to plant NO TRESPASSING signs on someone else's private property to provide a cover story for arresting them.
It's no fair to arrest everyone in sight without regard to the reason for their presence there.
You and I have gone round and round on this. So far, things are working out like I hoped they would.
The arrestees have all been let go. Their arrest records are being expunged. Those in charge are being fired, and they are being prosecuted.
This is how it should be.
I am not anti-cop. I'm not in favor of crowds gathering near your house on Saturday night and bothering you. I am in favor of laws being observed, by citizens and by cops. When they are not, people should face the consequences.
That's total BS, Houmatt. You are setting a phony straw man argument, and saying that it's what I'm stating.
If this is what you think I've been saying, you have some serious problems. Like, ability to understand common english. Or logic.
You are such a hero.
Apparently you seem to think that unless the property owner specifically objects to a person's criminal behavior, that is the same as consent. But it does not work that way. You know that, I know that. There is no need, rhyme or reason to be disingenuous about it.
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