By Scott Henson
Kilgore cops play hardball politics
Kilgore City Commission
candidate Gary L. Davis filed a lawsuit in December claiming harassment,
threats, assault by two police officers, and an attempt to destroy his
wrecker-service business, all allegedly received because he is seeking the city
commission seat currently held by the wife of Kilgore police Captain Randy
Hancock, who is seeking re-election, according to the Kilgore News Herald.
Davis said that just days
after he announced his candidacy, he was singled out by Kilgore police officers
for an open container citation, later dismissed, for drinking beer with a group
at a licensed drinking establishment. Witnesses state the officer told Davis the ticket would show him not to challenge city
authority, and criticized Davis’
association with black people using a graphic slur. In addition, his wrecker
service was removed from the Kilgore police rotation list.
Blown drug raid kills innocent
The Travis County Sheriff’s
office has refused to name the deputy who shot nineteen year old Antonio
Martinez during a December drug raid in Del Valle outside of Austin. Martinez was asleep on his couch when the Capital Area Drug
Task Force broke into his home executing a “no knock” arrest and seizure
warrant.
Martinez was shot as he rose up, startled, from the couch. He
was not the target of the raid, and was one of four adults and three
children in the home at the time. Martinez was unarmed and no guns were found in the residence.
The same task force,
including the officer who killed Martinez, were involved in another
deadly no-knock warrant execution last spring that resulted in the death of
Travis County Sheriffs Deputy Keith Ruiz. ACLU believes that in most cases
no-knock warrants are unnecessarily dangerous for both officers and citizens.
Officers exonerated, victim charged in Plano
A Collin County grand jury declined to charge DPS officers William L.
Farrell and Jeoffry Williams after an October 15 raid
in which Plano resident David John Neff received multiple gunshot
wounds.
Prosecutors allege Neff
pointed an assault rifle at officers, and a preliminary hearing on charges of
aggravated assault on peace officers will be held in January 2002. But all
three civilian witnesses to the shooting – who were all charged with
misdemeanor possession of marijuana and released – said that the weapon was out
of Neff’s reach throughout the raid.
Bexar deputies resign over smuggling
Three unnamed Bexar County
Sheriffs Deputies resigned after the department launched an investigation into
allegations of smuggling tobacco, coffee and narcotics into the county jail.
The deputies also allegedly illegally rented out a cell phone to inmates.
Sheriff Ralph Lopez said the deputies refused to cooperate with investigators.
One deputy was a twenty year veteran, while the other two were there five and
two years respectively.
Grand Prairie cop accused
of molestation
A Grand Prairie police officer resigned his badge just before being
charged with aggravated sexual assault and indecency with a child. The officer
was still on his one-year probationary period with the department when he was
accused by a day care center of sexually molesting a five year old relative. Dallas Morning News coverage did not
name the officer, despite the paper’s practice of naming all non-officers in
stories who are charged as criminal defendants.
Leniency for deviant cop backfires
A former Marshall police officer was arrested in December for sexual
assault on a child while on probation from a similar charge. Gerald Graves was
sentenced to just 10 years probation in 1992 after pleading guilty to sexual
assault of a child in Gregg County. That is a very lenient sentence by Texas standards. Most non-officers receive substantial jail
time for such crimes.
Was Graves
given preferential treatment by prosecutors in 1992 because he was a police
officer? Almost certainly. East Texas juries don’t cotton to child molesters. The more important question:
If Graves had gone to prison instead of receiving a slap on the wrist because
he was a cop, would his latest alleged child victim
have been safe from molestation?
FW cop gets six years for beating child
Fired Fort Worth police officer Christopher Armstrong was convicted by
a jury in December of beating a boy black and blue who his girlfriend was
babysitting in 1999. Armstrong was fired from the force soon thereafter. Jurors
deliberated 45 minutes before finding Armstrong guilty of belt-beating the five
year old boy when the child did not come in immediately from the rain. The
officer’s defense attorney blamed the child’s mother, though she was not there
at the time of the incident.
Dallas cop pulls
gun in home dispute
Dallas police officer Kristoffer
Kyle Lewis was taken to Parkland hospital in November and placed under psychiatric
watch after he pulled his gun during a home dispute with his wife. Rowlett
police responding to the disturbance took Lewis for medical treatment, not jail
time, because they said he appeared suicidal. No word yet on the departmental
consequences for Officer Lewis.
Judson ISD police chief charged
Judson ISD police chief Arthur Garcia was charged in December with Class A
misdemeanor “official oppression” for allegedly using his title of police chief
to gain persona benefits. Garcia was put on paid administrative leave in
November after allegations that he sexually harassed an
employees. The San Antonio Express
News reported Garcia was cleared of that charge, but as of 12-20 was on
paid medical leave from his job.
SA drug task force chief convicted
Fired Balcones Heights police officer John Beauford,
who previously was head of the Alamo Area Narcotics Task Force, was found
guilty in December of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine and
possession of stolen firearms. He tested positive for a routine drug test in
February 2001. Sentencing is set for February; Beauford
faces up to 70 years in federal prison.
Medina deputy
charged with interference
Medina County deputy Emmitt L. Sweeten,
an eight year veteran, was jailed in November after his wife was cited for
speeding in San
Jacinto County. Sweeten became agitated when a deputy constable
wrote his wife a ticket. He refused orders to calm down and submit to being
handcuffed, grabbing the car door post and refusing to turn loose. Sweeten is
charged with resisting arrest and interfering with the lawful duty of a peace
officer. His status with the department will be decided after his trial in
January.