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.
"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. < snip>
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.
A lawsuit has been filed against the city by a man who said he was at the Sonic with his 10 year old daughter eating when the raid began. He claims they were separated by the police.
I can't imagine filing such a suit unless those basic facts were true. They're easily verifiable from police records.
I don't know what your problem is, but I read those threads too and Dog Gone was very clear on his position, as were the many people who tried to explain to you where you were offbase on this ridiculous accusation.
You would be well advised to drop it, and apologize.
The point he made was not that "none of those arrested did anything wrong", as you keep FALSELY trying to put into his mouth, his point was that it was wildly improper for the officers to do a mass arrest in such a way that they couldn't help but sweep even some innocent people up in their arrest net (and worse, not be able to properly sort out which was which when it came time to trial).
If you're unable to read simple English after it has been explained to you at least a dozen times, or if you're unable to honestly describe an opponent's position, you need to go off and work on your problem and then come back when you can.
You have been repeatedly off base on this. I'm not saying you need to agree with his position (or that of other people who disagree with you), I'm saying that at a minimum you need to be able to UNDERSTAND what they're saying before you have any hope of making a relevant response.
I live in Houston, allow me to shed some light on it.
We have a similar problem in our hometown. Kids from here, as well as from great distances away, come to the main "Drag" in town to congregate and hang out. It's been a problem for a long time. They loiter in all the parking lots meant for business and leave a wave of litter in their wake. People avoid the area after sundown because it's like entering an out of control party zone. Souped up cars roaring back and forth, kids in large groups sitting on hood of cars all up and down the street screaming all sorts of colorful things at people passing by. Cruisers playing the latest Rap crap, with the base cranked to the max, Thump Thumping and vibrating everything within the tri city limits.
Sure. If the cops had arrested folks doing what you describe, there'd have been no flap. But they didn't.
Instead, they sent a squad to a place where drag-racers *sometimes* hang out, in the hopes of busting them to send them a message, and others like them.
Unfortunately, the drag racers weren't at the K-Mart that night. So rather than go back to the station house and wait to try again, the moron-in-charge decided, in a fit of jack-booted frustration, to give the order to arrest *EVERYONE* in sight, including customers eating their meals at the Sonic drive-in restaurant next door.
It was so bad and blatantly out of control that the Sonic employees were blocking the cops from trying to tow away the arrested customers' cars.
It was the sort of thing you'd expect in Nazi Germany or Iraq, not the United States.
Since the article stated nearly 300 people were arrested for curfew violations,
No, they weren't. A small number were charged with curfew violations, most were charged with "criminal trespass". One news story says, "Of the 278 arrested, only 42 were cited as violating the Houston curfew". And according to the Texas Code, no one there met the standards for criminal trespass, which the cops should have known full well.
Lower-ranking officers involved in the raid called into local radio talkshows over the following week, saying that they couldn't understand *what* the f*** the guys giving the orders were thinking. They *knew* it was bogus.
I believe we're talking about juveniles here. A curfew law clearly means leave the streets or be at home by a prescribed hour. Are these kids somehow exempt from the law? BTW 300 kids in one Kmart parking lot is a LOT of kids.
See above. Most were adults.
Also, the article mentions tresspassing arrests. I don't believe the police can arrest on a tresspass without the property owners say-so.
Absolutely correct (*and* the violator has to be given the opportunity to leave after being notified). Therein lies the problem.
So I guess Kmart didn't want them there either....
Incorrect assumption, neither K-Mart nor Sonic (nor James Coney Island, where the cops pulled a similar stunt the night before) had specifically requested the arrest of the people who were arrested. That's part of the reason the cops are in such hot water.
Raid at hot dog joint preceded Kmart bust
By ROMA KHANNA
Copyright 2002 Houston ChronicleHouston police Capt. Mark Aguirre, the man who ordered the arrests of 278 people at a westside Kmart last weekend, prodded a local restaurant to allow his officers to conduct a similar raid of its parking lot Saturday in a sting that netted 25 arrests.
Officials with the James Coney Island at 5745 Westheimer said they felt used after police swept in and arrested 25 people, some of whom were customers, for criminal trespass.
"We were cooperative with the idea (of the raid), but are not necessarily happy with the execution," said Darrin Straughan, a vice president with the restaurant chain. "We are victims here, too. We never imagined that this is the way it would be handled or that legitimate customers would be arrested."
Straughan said Aguirre approached the company two weeks ago and told restaurant officials that illegal drag racing along Westheimer had caused several fatal accidents and prompted neighborhood complaints. Aguirre asked the company to post four no-trespassing signs in the parking lot and to sign paperwork allowing police to make the arrests on the restaurant's property.
Company officials went along with Aguirre's plan, Straughan said, thinking their actions would be part of a subdued enforcement of city trespassing ordinances.
Instead, a swarm of officers backed by a police helicopter descended on the restaurant about 1:15 a.m. Saturday, rounding up customers and other people gathered in the parking lot. Police said the arrests continued until 4:30 a.m.
Most of those arrested, Straughan said, were among a group of motorcyclists that has gathered at the restaurant every weekend for nine years without problems.
Monica Coello, 36, was finishing a meal in the parking lot with her brother, sister, sister-in-law and 2-year-old niece when she was arrested.
"We were almost ready to leave when all the patrol cars came in and started blocking the entrances and exits," Coello said. "I wanted to lock my car, and they would not let me. They told me to shut up and walk to the back."
Coello's sister-in-law and niece were left behind, stranded. Police took Coello, her brother and sister to jail. Eventually, their mother shelled out $900 in bail, and the three siblings were freed.
Coello says she intends to sue the city.
"I don't see how they can call it trespassing when we were eating at the restaurant," she said. "We kept trying to explain that to police but they would not let us."
Coello's complaint is similar to that of dozens, if not hundreds, of people arrested at a Kmart and Sonic Drive-In in the 8400 block of Westheimer just after midnight Sunday.
In that incident, dozens of police -- led by Aguirre and again targeting illegal drag racing -- raided the businesses' parking lots about 12:30 a.m. Several officers said that when no evidence of drag racing was found, Aguirre ordered the arrests of the 278 people gathered there.
Those arrests prompted complaints that police failed to discriminate between loitering teens and legitimate customers when making arrests.
Straughan said James Coney Island has received about 50 customer complaints about the arrests, and the company believes that the police violated their agreement with the restaurant.
"We signed a trespass affidavit that said `James Coney Island requests on our behalf that the Houston Police Department requests all persons who are not patrons in the normal course of business to immediately leave the property or be arrested,' " Straughan said, quoting the agreement.
But no one had the opportunity to "immediately leave," Straughan said.
"From what we have learned, nobody that HPD arrested was asked whether they were there as a customer," he said. The police "just showed up, blocked off entrances, and arrested everybody."
Straughan declined to comment on Aguirre, but he said the company plans to file a complaint with the Police Department. Officials with Kmart did not respond to calls for comment.
Citations would have provided adequate warning that arrests could follow, said lawyer Anthony Osso.
"It is extremely indicative of the mentality of whoever was in charge that when they had the option of giving a citation in lieu of arresting someone, they chose to make arrests," Osso said. "Those arrests were unnecessary."
Several lawyers interviewed Wednesday said those who pleaded guilty after their arrests Sunday can request a trial, arguing that their pleas were made under duress. Many of those who pleaded guilty, some of whom were teenagers, said they did so to avoid spending another night in jail.
"They were still under the shock that many of them were arrested without just cause," said Osso. "If you have never been in trouble before, and you believe the police are there to protect you, you will plead if they say you can get out."
Members of City Council said Wednesday that they had received many e-mails and phone calls regarding the weekend arrests and that the public seems outraged about the operation.
Unless something important was left out of this story....I still don't see what was criminal or outrageous making these cops unfit to be police officers.
Now do you understand?
And keep the above in mind the next time Houmatt tries to paint this as good and proper arrest procedure.
Pure speculation. Could you by chance stick with the facts? Thank you.
Just how short is your memory? In this post in another thread, Henrietta, in a response TO YOU, quoted a news story saying
"The 278 people were arrested early Sunday morning by police who were assigned to stop illegal drag racing.You even responded to that post, so you can't claim that you stopped reading the thread before seeing it...The officers 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 in the 8400 block of Westhemier, even though they found no drag racers.
So what's your excuse: Poor memory, or dishonesty?
More on the same topic, from the Houston Chronicle:
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.THOSE are "the facts". You owe an apology to Dog Gone for accusing him of "pure speculation" when he had his facts perfectly straight but you were unable to recognize them.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.
[snip]
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.
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.
[Note the previous two paragraphs -- those arrests resulted in no public uproar. Why? Because they were done PROPERLY.]
[snip]
"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.
Now how long before you forget *this* attempt to educate you?
You would be well advised to drop it, and apologize.
The point he made was not that "none of those arrested did anything wrong", as you keep FALSELY trying to put into his mouth, his point was that it was wildly improper for the officers to do a mass arrest in such a way that they couldn't help but sweep even some innocent people up in their arrest net (and worse, not be able to properly sort out which was which when it came time to trial).
In fact, pal, that is exactly what Dog Gone said, as evidenced here:
But there is nothing illegal about people getting together on private property and having a good time, which is essentially what was going on here.
That is only one example.
In light of this, you would be well advised to sit down and shut up.
For the record, this is what I said:
There is no doubt that these gatherings are a nuisance to the neighborhoods. The problem is that no law is being broken by the kids being there.
The cops need the permission of the property owners to run the kids off, which they may or may not have had. If they do have the permission, and the kids refuse to leave, then they may be arrested for criminal trespass. But they have to be given a chance to leave.
If there is a fight or something like that, or if motorcyclists are doing wheelies and are being loud or dangerous, an arrest could be made for disturbing the peace. That is what the police should have focused on.
But there is nothing illegal about people getting together on private property and having a good time, which is essentially what was going on here.
Apparently, police believed that these gatherings preceded some street racing, and this was sort of a staging area. Stopping street racing is an appropriate police function. But what they should be doing is patrolling the places where street racing occurs and stopping it there.
I have sympathy for those people who have their homes or apartments adjacent to these parking lots, but it essentially comes with the territory. If they don't like it, they should move to a quieter neighborhood. Anybody who lives within a block or two of Westheimer needs their heads examined, anyway. The street is a madhouse, especially on weekends.
I know full well what the news story said.
For one thing, nobody has ever stated the raid was not related to the task of stopping illegal drag racing. In fact, the raid was planned in advance. This has never been disputed.
For another, a witness to the raid said he saw people run to the Sonic to evade arrest. So it is perfectly reasonable to conduct arrests there.
It is also worth mentioning in the very same thread you referenced, Henrietta also said the actions of those arrested which precipitated the raid are not relevant. So she does not exactly have any credibility around here.
And who gives a flying fork what other people think of Aguirre? So he is not exactly a popular guy within his ranks. Big deal. That is not unique to any situation.
You are going to have to try a little harder to show the raid was not necessary and justified.
Nope. I said to neither talk to me nor about me. Period. To that, you said no. Respect is a two-way street, cowboy/girl. You want it? You have to give it.
For the record, this is what I said:
For the record, the rest of that post is not even relevant to the subject.
The fact is, and remains, you said none of the people arrested did anything wrong. And I have your own words to prove it.
Also, for the record, I stated I believed as far as you are concerned, unless the property owner comes out and specifically objects to criminal behavior, that is the same as consent. You have yet to respond.
That will be a good start. I hope they lose their pensions, forfeit their assets in the lawsuits, and spend some time behind bars as well. Police who abuse their authority should be held to a high standard. Unfortunately, most who do abuse the trust the public places in them usually get away with it. The ones who get caught should pay a very high price, to send a strong message to the rest.
As far as your other assertion, it's difficult to respond to it because it is so fundamentally wrong in its premise.
The statutes on Criminal Trespass have been explained to you several times. I'm not inclined to do it again, because it seems to be a waste of time. Go back and re-read the threads if you like.
The fact is that the elements of Criminal Trespass were not met in this case. Nobody was asked to leave the premises. In fact, they were prevented from leaving it by the police. You blow off that detail because it leads to the inescapable conclusion that the arrests on Criminal Trespass charges were not justified.
Your assertion that I'm saying that a property owner must object to criminal behavior before an arrest can be made is totally wrong. I have never said that, and it wouldn't be accurate. You are blurring the requirement that a property owner must complain in order for there to be Criminal Trespass, with criminal activity in general.
Clearly, if people in the crowd were engaged in illegal behavior such as vandalism, public intoxication or drug use, an arrest could be made whether or not the property owner complains.
But there were no arrests for that. The only arrests were for criminal trespass and curfew violations.
The bottom line is if any of these people were engaged in illegal activity, they should have been arrested for the illegal activity. What they were not engaged in is Criminal Trespass as it is defined in the Texas Penal Code.
Hanging out in a parking lot is not a crime.
Can you refute that?
I will concede that there was possible evidence of some curfew violations, but the ordinance is so weak that it's entirely possible that nobody was in even in violation of that.
Then how do you explain that tow truck driver?
The fact of the matter is, you don't know for sure one way or the other because no investigation was ever conducted into the behavior of those arrested that night. Bradford was too busy trying to cover his own aft and the one who took over his job was all too eager to have all the charges dropped.
So, at this point, the only thing we have is a tow truck driver who was parked across the street watching the action before and during the raid because he, like all other tow truck drivers, has a police scanner so they knew about the raid before it occurred.
And he said he witnessed criminal activity.
Are you actually suggesting that he triggered the raid that night involving nearly 100 officers?
Not a chance.
We know this was planned in advance. We have the statements of police officers.
A tow truck operator trying to justify his fees for that night is not exactly the most credible of sources.
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