HPD suspends 8 officers in excessive force case

[RoadkillStewie]

Eight Houston Police Department officers from the Westside command’s gang unit have been relieved of duty in an investigation into a videotaped incident of suspected excessive force used against a suspect, Houston police union officials confirmed tonight.

The incident, which happened last month, was captured on video by a surveillance camera at a self-storage business in southwest Houston. The videotape was forwarded to HPD and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office about a week later.

One HPD official, who asked not to be identified, said the officers were seen on the video using force against a burglary suspect after a chase.

One sergeant and seven officers were suspended with pay Tuesday, Mayor Annise Parker said.

Quanell X said he has a copy of a videotape that shows the beating, but said he is not releasing it publicly until the District Attorney’s office concludes its investigation.

The surveillance camera was mounted at Uncle Bob’s Self Storage at 8450 Cook near Beechnut in far southwest Houston, Quanell X said. The incident happened in daylight, around 4 p.m.

“It was a horrendous beating. It was horrific,” Quanell X said. “District Attorney Pat Lykos should indict these officers. These officers should be brought before a jury and tried for aggravated assault by a public servant, violation of the young man’s civil rights, you name it.”

He did not release the beaten suspect’s name and declined to say if he has met personally with the young man, who is black.

From viewing the videotape, Quanell X said it appears the arrested man was beaten by the officers after a chase.

“You see the young man get out (of his car) and take off running — and you see a (patrol) car hit him,” he said. “When the car hit him, you see him lay all the way down and the cops just pounce on him like a pack of wolves pouncing on raw meat.

“While he is handcuffed and lying down, you see a black cop run up and kick him in square in the face. They’re punching and hitting him, punching and hitting him.”

The entire incident lasts about two and a half minutes, Quanell X said. Another person was in the car with the arrested man when they were stopped by police, but no details were available about that person.

Quanell X would not say where he obtained a copy of the video. However, he said, the Houston Police Department and the Harris County District Attorney’s office received copies of the tape from the business within five to seven days. Police Chief Charles McClelland promised a thorough investigation, Quanell X said.

“He has done that, and I have to applaud him for that,” Quanell X said.

Parker said the city knew nothing of the incident until Tuesday and said the officers were suspended that afternoon.

“We received information about it from a private citizen who was reviewing security tapes,” Parker said. “He forwarded a copy of those tapes to the District Attorney’s office and to the chief of police. They immediately took action.

“Because there is an ongoing criminal investigation, I can’t go into detail about the incident,” Parker said. “But it is interesting that we didn’t know about this until we received the security tape. We’ve taken immediate action and there will be a complete and thorough investigation. I want to thank the citizen who reviewed his security tapes and forwarded them so we could take action.”

Parker said she has not seen the video, but she believes the eight officers had “different levels of involvement” in the incident.

“There is a possibility that (the arrested man’s) rights were violated and that he may have been assaulted by the officers while in custody,” Parker said. “I hope it’s not true, but if it is, we will thoroughly investigate it, and the officers involved, if necessary, will take the consequences.”

Ray Hunt, vice president of the Houston Police Officer’s Union, said union attorneys met Wednesday with several of the officers suspended.

“We’ve had no communication with the department,” said Hunt, who is also a senior HPD officer. “And the only reason we knew is several officers have come to our organization and advised us they had been relieved of duty. They had been given no instructions whatsoever or reasons for being relieved of duty.”

[retdetsgt]

That reporter has a lot to be desired. Who the hell is Quanell X? It's good journalistic practice to give some indication of the relationship someone has to a story when you start quoting them.

Also sounds like the union needs a better contract with the city regarding disciplinary practices if people are relieved of duty with no instructions, no reasons and no communication with the union.

[SHH 1313]

Quote RDS:

Who the hell is Quanell X?

Quanell X (pronounced /ˈɛks/) (born Quanell Ralph Evans; December 7, 1970) is the leader of the New Black Panther Party in Houston, Texas.

Source: wikipedia

A a community activist, he say's he has seen the tape. He believes the suspect is in the Harris County jail after spending several days in the hospital.

Source: KHOU.Com

[retdetsgt]

With the last name "X", I figured he was some sort of activist. My point was more to the reporter's style. Everyone around here knows that Sam Adams is the mayor of Portland. But in every news article here, the first time he's mentioned he's always referred to as Portland mayor Sam Adams.... That way if anyone from out of the area is reading it, they know who Adams is when they talk about him.

I never realized how lousy our newspapers are until I spent some time in Ireland and read The Irish Times. At first I was just intrigued by the way they use the English language as an art, but after I got back and read our papers again, I realized how poorly so many things are not only written, but reported here.

I know I'm being picky, but this omission about X was just an example of sloppy reporting and the way our language is continually be dumbed down. I couldn't have turned in papers in the 6th grade written the way some college grads write.

[SHH 1313]

After I googled X, I ignored the video and read the article. I agree about omission and the language being dumbed down. I am guilty myself and I know better.

[RoadkillStewie]

That reporter has a lot to be desired. Who the hell is Quanell X? It's good journalistic practice to give some indication of the relationship someone has to a story when you start quoting them.

The local 'paper' has a lot to be desired, period... and the quality of reporting/writing in general seems to have been in a steady decline over the years.

[JR180]

The beating may have been terrible, it might have been brutal and it may have even been excessive, but I bet the next time that douche decides to burgle anything he will think about the *** whipping he received and... probably do it again anyway because if you beat a pile of **** its still a pile of ****, but with more bandages.

Im not excusing what the officers may or may not have done but if the media would take into account what the man was doing to deserve the beating: STEALING FROM OTHER PEOPLE BECAUSE THE **** DIDN'T WANT TO WORK FOR THE THINGS HE WANTED, they might realize 'oh crap i spose if someone was breaking into my house or storage unit i would probably want to beat the crap out of them too.'

[Samuel]

And the purpose of this thread is??? (rhethorical)

[RoadkillStewie]

And the purpose of this thread is??? (rhethorical)

What's the purpose of any thread then? I can look through General Enforcement Topics and find several examples that are similar in nature, that being LEo related topics provided in the news.

I've previously noted my interest in regards to LEO being subject of photography/videography in public areas. In this partular scenario we have 8 officers accused of excessive force, recorded by a security camera (and no charges of wiretapping etc).

I'll admit, I could be wrong...but my impression, was that this forum... in particular General Law Enforcement Topics/Discussion is for the discussion and exchange of thoughts for topics related to/involving LEO in a mature and reasonable manner?


It might have been better to go into 'Police Officer - Headlines', but honestly hadn't noticed that particular sub-forum til a bit ago. <shrug>

[ChevySSP]

You may have missed the point of Samuel's sarcasm...


What he's referring to is the ever-incesant postings of media reports of officer abuse and/or corruption. Too often do people come on to this forum and create threads that are seemingly posted for the sole reason of causing a police bashing session. If you did some searching you'd find that articles like this one come up way too often.

Cops won't debate on whether another cop used excessive force simply because its just going into the OP's hands and they will do with it as they please. Personally I think that if you replaced the word "cop" in the article and put "nurse" then people would not make a big deal out of it.


You have to understand that in this line of work, it is not difficult at all of being accused of something you didn't do, especially since your the one wearing the badge. Too often do people jump to quick conclusions about the cop only to be proven wrong later on down the line, and even still many will still have the same frame of mind.

Oh, and in Texas that is not considered wiretapping.

[RoadkillStewie]

You may have missed the point of Samuel's sarcasm...


What he's referring to is the ever-incesant postings of media reports of officer abuse and/or corruption. Too often do people come on to this forum and create threads that are seemingly posted for the sole reason of causing a police bashing session. If you did some searching you'd find that articles like this one come up way too often.

Cops won't debate on whether another cop used excessive force simply because its just going into the OP's hands and they will do with it as they please. Personally I think that if you replaced the word "cop" in the article and put "nurse" then people would not make a big deal out of it.


You have to understand that in this line of work, it is not difficult at all of being accused of something you didn't do, especially since your the one wearing the badge. Too often do people jump to quick conclusions about the cop only to be proven wrong later on down the line, and even still many will still have the same frame of mind.

Oh, and in Texas that is not considered wiretapping.

Chevy,

I understand, part of why I haven't posted any question/comments in regards to it... beyond the wiretapping comment/reference anyway. Not looking for support/condemations... posted for information and possible conversation. We know no one is forced to read or reply.

I'll go so far as to say/admit Jr180 has a point... there are some, actions...or 'crimes' that I can't help but wonder/feel sometimes that corporal punishment might serve as a better deterrent rather than our current system(?)/process of handeling. While I think, this situation might have been above and beyond... I think I can relate, or 'see' where situations might lend to it.


It takes some time to get settled in to a new forum, I just ask for a little patience. Leo's, Bankers....we're all people, with different jobs and no one is perfect. I do like to look at some of these things (ie: the M/C felnoy thread), how things went (based on what info is available) and discuss good/bad. I've had more 'good' than 'bad' personal experiences with 'Cops' and hardly have any ill-will or interest in 'bashing' a people over their profession (ok, maybe politicians).

[retdetsgt]

You have to understand that in this line of work, it is not difficult at all of being accused of something you didn't do, especially since your the one wearing the badge. Too often do people jump to quick conclusions about the cop only to be proven wrong later on down the line, and even still many will still have the same frame of mind.

I guess that's why I focused on that Quanell X character. We've had chiefs in the past that danced to the tune of every Black militant asswipe that came along. At one point, it seemed the ******* that was the head of The Black United Front here in Portland had more influence on our chief than anyone else did. She overreacted to every knee jerk complaint this guy had and made our lives miserable. It got so bad that most of the uniform people all but quit making traffic stops, did no self initiated activity and did the bare minimum on calls. Finally the mayor dumped her and it all went back to normal.

I was wondering if that's not the case in Houston. Are they so afraid of this guy "X" that they are ready to nail these guys on his say so?

[RoadkillStewie]

I guess that's why I focused on that Quanell X character. We've had chiefs in the past that danced to the tune of every Black militant asswipe that came along. At one point, it seemed the ******* that was the head of The Black United Front here in Portland had more influence on our chief than anyone else did. She overreacted to every knee jerk complaint this guy had and made our lives miserable. It got so bad that most of the uniform people all but quit making traffic stops, did no self initiated activity and did the bare minimum on calls. Finally the mayor dumped her and it all went back to normal.

I was wondering if that's not the case in Houston. Are they so afraid of this guy "X" that they are ready to nail these guys on his say so?

I think it was more, just the particular author and the media. Heck, they had one trying to find a way to virtually crucify the govenor for shooting a coyote while jogging with his daughter and their pup.

There's some room, reason for concern in regards to the video/incident, but more information would definitly help, the 'article' if you will... would probably had been better served with more of a summary with nothing of 'Qx's bs. His primary interest seems to be trying to keep himself in the limelight, pushing his agenda regardless of impact or effect on the community.

[RoadkillStewie]

'news' update...

"HOUSTON (KTRK) -- In an exclusive interview, we're getting a clearer picture of what led up to the alleged beating of a 15-year-old by eight Houston police officers.
Those officers have been relieved of duty. And investigators are looking into the possibility of criminal charges against them.

But one woman says the teen who says police beat him isn't an innocent victim.

Frances Vernon tells ABC13 she finds the allegations against those Houston police officers hard to believe. She says if what Chad Holley claims is true, then she certainly feels sorry for him.

However, Vernon was quick to point out he's not the only victim here.

"I have to get new windows," Vernon said.

Five weeks ago, Houston police called Vernon at work with the news no homeowner ever wants to hear.

"He said, 'We're at your house and there was a break in,'" Vernon said.

The thieves slid open a front window, crawled inside and began to pilfer through her personal belongings.

"They went in my bedroom, into my jewelry box, took my jewelry," Vernon said.

Police told her they stopped the suspected burglars outside a storage facility a few blocks from her home.

Up until a few hours ago, she had no idea that one of them was Holley, the 16-year-old who claims Houston police beat him up after they caught him. An incident allegedly caught on tape.

"The way the officers -- they didn't seem like they hurt no body," she said. "They just captured the kids."

Eighteen-year-old Elijah Broussard was also arrested and charged with breaking into Vernon's home.

The arresting officers, who have since been relieved of duty, are members of Westside Command's gang and tactical units. It appears they working undercover and had Holley and Broussard under surveillance.

"They've been breaking into people's houses," Vernon said.

"They've been watching these kids," she said. "That's why they waited for them to get out of my house to pick them up."

While Vernon feels bad about the alleged beating, she blames the parents for not teaching their kids right from wrong.

"He did a crime. He did something wrong," she said. "I don't know what the officers did, but he did something wrong."

"They came in my house, and they violated my privacy," she said.

Vernon said from what she could tell, the officers that handled her situation appeared to be professional. She did get back all her money and jewelry back.

ABC13's attempt to contact Broussard's attorney Friday night was unsuccessful. "

[shark2k]

deleted: nevermind.