Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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This sounds like Houston is going to be paying a lot of money for a wrong death suit and will be forced to change some policies like maybe having to use a district judge to get their warrants.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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eelj wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 11:58 am
sikacz wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:53 am Acevedo should resign or be fired. No knock warrants should not exist.
I agree with you but the problem is that they do exist. Years ago a particularly over bearing gun writer named Jeff Cooper predicted this would be happening with the use of no knock warrants.

Apparently he was right.
My point is “no knock warrants” should be done away with. Yes Jeff was right. Frankly I don’t understand why “we the people” were so stupid as to allow such an instrument to be adopted. It’s time to correct this error.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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Laziness and lack of education (knowledge) of the issues allow bad laws to be passed. Frankly, this entire war on drugs is misguided. Yet it is still federal policy.

The tree of Democracy does not die from lack of patriotic blood, but from something as simple water -knowledge and education historically being necessary for human civilization as water of course.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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sikacz wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 4:37 pm
eelj wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 11:58 am
sikacz wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:53 am Acevedo should resign or be fired. No knock warrants should not exist.
I agree with you but the problem is that they do exist. Years ago a particularly over bearing gun writer named Jeff Cooper predicted this would be happening with the use of no knock warrants.

Apparently he was right.
My point is “no knock warrants” should be done away with. Yes Jeff was right. Frankly I don’t understand why “we the people” were so stupid as to allow such an instrument to be adopted. It’s time to correct this error.
Because only "those people" are affected...not our problem.
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"Person, woman, man, camera, TV."

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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senorgrand wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 7:05 pm
sikacz wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 4:37 pm
eelj wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 11:58 am
sikacz wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:53 am Acevedo should resign or be fired. No knock warrants should not exist.
I agree with you but the problem is that they do exist. Years ago a particularly over bearing gun writer named Jeff Cooper predicted this would be happening with the use of no knock warrants.

Apparently he was right.
My point is “no knock warrants” should be done away with. Yes Jeff was right. Frankly I don’t understand why “we the people” were so stupid as to allow such an instrument to be adopted. It’s time to correct this error.
Because only "those people" are affected...not our problem.
If it hasn’t sunk in, we are all “those people” to the one percent, the elites that push for these laws so they can be safe.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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K9s wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:26 pm I don't remember "we the people" being asked for our opinions.
“We the people” have elected the people to office that enact these laws. Perhaps being more concerned about what a candidate says should be in order instead of “x” is not “y” or “z”. When you hear an authoritarian speak, don’t vote for them.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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Local TV stations are following up on the fine article in the Houston Chronicle and other news outlets are also investigating.
The Houston police officer at the center of the botched drug raid has been shot twice before. The facts of one of those shootings changed dramatically in the days after it. Senior Officer Gerald Goines, 54, was shot in 1992 and 1997.

In 1992, Houston police said Goines had just completed a narcotics transaction when he stopped to urinate on a tree. The homeowner, who was worried about burglars, walked outside and spoke to Goines. Moments later, police said at the time, he returned with a pistol. Goines was shot in the jaw. In 1997, what was first believed to be a narcotics bust turned out to be a deadly case of road rage on the Southwest Freeway, according to police. Days after the shooting that left Goines injured and another man, Reginald Dorsey, dead, police said the two were competing for space on the freeway. Dorsey pulled out a gun. Both men fired. Goines was shot in the arm and abdomen. Goines has been with HPD for 34 years. HPD Chief Art Acevedo says when he is released from the hospital after the latest shooting, he will be relieved of duty.
https://abc13.com/hpd-officer-at-center ... e/5141523/
But on Friday, in the warrants executed by officers investigating the botched raid, it is clear that no confidential informant ever went to the house on 7815 Harding. In fact, all informants who worked with Goines told investigators they did not go in that home. "We know we've had a criminal violation already," Chief Acevedo said about the internal investigation of officers involved in the botched raid.

Investigators returned to Goines for the names of more informants, who had all worked for Goines in the past. They all denied making a buy for Goines at the home. They also denied ever buying drugs from Nicholas or Tuttle. The warrant shows that two bags of heroin were found in Goines' city vehicle.

An officer who has been temporarily relieved of duty told investigators he'd never seen the bags of heroin. However, that contradicts the original warrant indicating that same officer did recognize the substance purchased by the confidential informant as heroin. The original warrant is what led to the raid at the home on Harding. "We know that a crime has been committed. It's a serious crime," said Acevedo, who is referring to clear lies in the original warrant. "When we go into someone's home, which is the sanctity in someone's home, it has to be truthful. It has to be honest. It has to be absolutely factual. So, we know there's a crime that's been committed. There's a high probability that there will be a criminal charge." "We know we've had a criminal violation already," Chief Acevedo said about internal investigation of officers involved in botched raid.

On Friday, the Houston Police Officers' Union released the following statement about the incident:

The HPOU has received several media inquiries and have seen documents on media websites regarding the Harding Street incident, but the HPOU is not the ones conducting the investigation. The HPOU will comment as soon as the Department officially releases any details of the investigation or confirms the documents posted on media websites are accurate.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said that he's receiving periodic briefings about the investigation from Acevedo, and says he wants a "full and complete investigation."

"I'm going to reserve my comments until the investigation is complete. But we want to make sure that we do a full and complete investigation and that we do it as quickly as possible, and the facts will speak for themselves," Mayor Turner said.
https://abc13.com/warrant-informant-did ... d/5140341/

It's a huge fuck-up and the Mayor is smart to stay out of it for now. There is an old saying, the higher you go the more your ass shows and this keeps going higher. Acevedo is in a PR war to survive.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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Again good reporting by the Houston Chronicle.
When Houston police took part in the botched raid that killed two civilians and wounded four officers, there was no video from body cameras for investigators to examine. Despite spending millions of dollars on the technology since 2014 and equipping patrol officers and uniformed street crime teams, police management have yet to deploy devices among undercover units engaged in the most dangerous tactical operations. The department hasn’t purchased enough equipment or developed protocols for undercover teams — and requires officers to turn off their devices when conferring with undercover officers assigned to an investigative division about a tactical operation or briefing.

The practice denies accountability in drug raids and hostage situations, leaves officers who claim their actions were proper undefended, and ignores common-sense best practices even in some of the highest-risk situations, according to criminal justice experts. “That’s outrageous,” said George Kirkham, a police officer and retired Florida State University criminology professor. “The prevalence, the inexpensiveness, the ready availability of them ... Certainly they should be used in situations like this, (so) we’re not left to guess at what happened; we can reconstruct it with precision.” Police Chief Art Acevedo said the lack of body cams on raid teams is about priorities; the department wanted to equip street officers first.“Our primary focus on camera deployment has been first on patrol, and next on proactive street crime units,” he told the Houston Chronicle. “Those are most likely to be involved in use of force cases.”

The push for body cameras started in 2015 when Houston City Council approved a $3.4 million contract with plans to buy 4,100 devices, but put those plans on pause in 2017 after Acevedo raised concerns about issues with the cameras’ battery life. The department currently has equipped 2,650 of the department’s 5,200 officers with the devices, said Kese Smith, an HPD spokesman. There are an additional 400 devices in reserve. The question of when police should record interactions with the public has come to the fore again in Houston after the Jan. 28 drug bust that ended with two people dead and five officers injured — four by gunfire.

Police secured a no-knock warrant after a confidential informant made a controlled buy of what was reported as heroin at the house on Jan. 27, authorities said. The next day, police used that purchase as a key piece of their request for the warrant, laying out their reasons in a three-page sworn affidavit. The informant also warned police of a “large quantity” of drugs inside, packaged in plastic baggies, and a 9mm handgun, according to the court filing. Undercover narcotics officers burst into the suspected drug den the next day, and a gunfight immediately ensued. By the end of it, the house’s residents — Dennis Tuttle and his wife Rhogena Nicholas — were dead. Four officers were shot; two remain in the hospital. After the shooting, police said they found 18 grams of marijuana, 1.5 grams of cocaine, along with several firearms — but no heroin. Friends of the couple disputed assertions by police that they were drug dealers.

In the days after the raid, police relieved one officer of duty in light of “ongoing questions” surrounding the Harding Street bust. His suspension came amid a probe into questions over whether the sworn affidavit used to justify the no-knock warrant may have contained false information, according to law enforcement sources. Monique Caballero, a friend who’d known the couple for about five years, said body cams could have helped answer many questions that still remain. “The whole reason why police have body cams is to back up that what they did was correct,” Caballero said. “When you don’t wear body cameras that goes to show that you might do something that’s not legal and you have no accountability for your actions.”

If police are willing to use body cameras in lower-risk interactions on the street, experts said, then it only makes sense to use them in even riskier scenarios such as raids. “It’s pretty commonly considered a best practice to record those raids,” said Scott Henson, executive director of the nonprofit justice group Just Liberty. “It’s a high-stakes thing. Someone could lose their life — as these two people did in this raid. So you want to dot every ‘i’ in that situation.” Phillip Lyons, dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University, said it seemed “odd” to forego cameras in high-risk situations — but highlighted a few justifications police might cite. “If they have body cameras, then there will be recordings and those could have implications,” he said. For instance, police could object to the possibility of revealing tactics.

Houston Police Officers’ Union Vice President Doug Griffith said that while he didn’t believe body cameras were appropriate for everyday use by undercover officers, he did support using them during warrant raids and similar operations. He said he was concerned by the possibility of defense attorneys disseminating body camera video and outing undercover officers. “Everybody who does a warrant should have a body cam on,” he said, adding that he favors laws that would allow the department to blur the faces of undercover officers before giving the videos to defense attorneys. “You’re putting your people at risk if you do a search warrant and their faces are seen. You’re asking them to go buy dope from crooks. That’s a problem.”
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/h ... 611860.php

The Police Union is full of sh.. just like their original statement. Developing protocols/policies on the use of bodycams by HPD is up to the Chief to make sure they are in place and that again falls on Acevedo, that is management.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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TrueTexan wrote: Mon Feb 18, 2019 1:11 pm Accountability, Cameras! We don’t need no stinkin’ Accountability or Cameras! We are the special police.
I think about all the excesses that are caught on cell phone cameras. I bet no one thought about that when they put cameras on cell phones.

Now, the "authorities" are left to argue that we cannot believe what our eyes see. More cameras needed.
It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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Two citizens (and a dog) killed over the violent actions of a corrupt law enforcement unit? The city may weather the financial loss but political heads are gonna roll.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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Bisbee wrote: Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:49 pm Two citizens (and a dog) killed over the violent actions of a corrupt law enforcement unit? The city may weather the financial loss but political heads are gonna roll.
I want Acevedo’s head to roll. These were his officers. The first thing he ever does after any tragedy is jump on the ban wagon. He should have been working on improving his police force and not contemplating which rights the people should or should not have.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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sikacz wrote: Mon Feb 18, 2019 7:12 pm
Bisbee wrote: Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:49 pm Two citizens (and a dog) killed over the violent actions of a corrupt law enforcement unit? The city may weather the financial loss but political heads are gonna roll.
I want Acevedo’s head to roll. These were his officers. The first thing he ever does after any tragedy is jump on the ban wagon. He should have been working on improving his police force and not contemplating which rights the people should or should not have.
Agreed. His career needs to end over this.

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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A testy town hall meeting.
After the event - organized by the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice - Acevedo said any situation where a no-knock raid would be required would have to receive a special exemption from his office. "I'm 99.9 percent sure we won't be using them," he said. "If for some reason there would be a specific case, that would come from my office."Given the wounded officers and the two slain civilians, the chief said he didn't "see the value" in the controversial raids. "So that's probably going to go by the wayside," he said.

The news came during the meeting late Monday after more than an hour of questions from a furious crowd that repeatedly pressed Acevedo on the conduct of his undercover officers, the use of no-knocks and inflammatory comments from Houston police union President Joe Gamaldi who recently seemed to suggest the department was surveilling law enforcement critics. And, despite pushback earlier in the day from a defense lawyer representing the case agent at the center of the botched bust, Acevedo doubled down on his previous statements about the likelihood of charges against the police involved.

"I'm very confident we're going to have criminal charges on one or more of the officers," he said. The crowd greeted his declaration with a chorus of angry voices demanding: "All of them." Still, Acevedo said he wouldn't agree to let the Texas Ranger or the FBI take over the investigation. "I feel very strongly that a police department that is not capable of investigating itself and finding malfeasance and criminal misconduct," he said, "we should just shut down -- and that's just not the case here."

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg also tried to assure the crowd that her office would investigate and that bad actors would not be allowed off the hook, but pushed back against "mob justice." "There is a process - it is the justice system," she said. "What you've seen is more accountability - grand juries are returning more true-bills, and we're prosecuting them." When asked whether he would fire Gamaldi or others allegedly surveilling or harassing activists, Acevedo said he wouldn't deal with speculation. In response, activist Shere Dore fired back with an allegation that earlier in the day police came out and took pictures of protesters gathered outside Houston police headquarters to demand murder charges against the case agent behind the raid. Acevedo asked for video to look into the claim.

He went on to say that he would roll out a new policy in the coming weeks to make sure that undercovers wear body cameras; the fact that they didn't in the Harding Street raid was a point of contention afterward, given the lack of evidence to counter the initial narrative. But Acevedo's sweeping announcements weren't enough to placate some of the town hall attendees. One member of the audience, Tomaro Bell, expressed indignation over police use of no-knock warrants. "I do believe this officer is going to be charged with murder," she said, of Goines. "But the systemic problems that exist in the undercover narcotics division will not be resolved with this officer charged with murder."

Relatives of several people killed in no-knock raids said they believe more investigation was needed before using the raid. Aurora Charles said her brother, 55-year-old Ponciano Montemayor Jr., was killed during a no-knock raid in September 2013. "I just want to see change, that's it," she said. "They've got to do their homework before they go in with these warrants."

For some in the crowd, the killing of the Tuttles brough back memories of the killing of Joe Campos Torres in 1977. "We've been down this road before," said Johnny Mata, a longtime civil rights activist. Still, he tried to assure them. "To those who feel down and depressed, that nothing has changed, ill tell you it has," he said.

But at the same time, he called on Gamaldi to reach out to activists. "An apology is still needed," he said, suggesting the union could recall his election. "We don't need any demagoguery."
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texa ... 626158.php
"The possible charges, in this case, run the gamut from Class A Misdemeanor, official oppression, to the third-degree felonies of tampering with a government document and aggravated perjury," said KPRC 2 Legal Analyst Brian Wice.


The Houston Police Department continues to investigate what led to the shooting, in which four Houston police officers were shot and the two homeowners were killed. Depending on the investigation's findings, Wice says the charge could be worse.

"Depending on how one looks at the evidence, it is not entirely a stretch to say that at least the case agent, Officer Goines, may be charged – or at least could be charged – with felony murder," Wice said.

How? Well, it’s on the books: Texas Penal Code 19.02.

Wice explained its meaning.

“If you commit one felony, in this case, aggravated perjury, or tampering with a government document, and in the course of, or in furtherance of the commission of that first felony, you engage in conduct that is clearly dangerous to human life, and somebody dies, that’s felony murder," Wice said.

Any charge would have to wait until the completion of that internal investigation. If it is concluded that Officer Goines intentionally gave false information to get the initial no-knock warrant, Wice says: “If he knew that that warrant had the force and effect of last week’s losing lotto ticket, and he’s at the front door getting ready to achieve entry, he’s no longer a cop. He’s a home invader with a badge and a gun.”
https://www.click2houston.com/news/kprc ... -drug-raid
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: A fatal Houston drug raid is a familiar story of needless violence, death and destruction

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At the least, the Texas Rangers need to be brought in to investigate the whole situation with the No Knock Raids in Houston. That will be the only way the citizens will be able to say they have been given the true facts.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

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