What the fuck are they doing, trying to fill a quota!?!?

[Merlins Boon]

In local news, just one more reason for me to be proud of living in this fucking state




http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/dcistory.hts/chronicle/1539629

 

[La Huesera]

ummmm... link does not seem to work for me.

 

[Merlins Boon]

Try this, apparently the link only works for AOL users.

Raid on Kmart lot leaves shock, anger
Teenagers, parents question arrests of 425 outside store

By RON NISSIMOV
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle


A crowd of angry teenagers and their parents accused police Sunday of arresting many innocent bystanders during an overnight raid on a west Houston parking lot where youths apparently congregate.

Scores of Houston police officers swarmed onto the Kmart parking lot in the 8400 block of Westheimer about 12:30 a.m. Sunday and arrested about 425 people for criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor.



Houston Police Department spokesman Martin DeLeon said many cars were towed.

DeLeon said business owners have been complaining about youths gathering on their parking lots on weekend nights and causing a commotion.

DeLeon said he did not have more details about the incident because the two captains in charge of the raid, M.A. Aguirre and J.P. Mokwa, were sleeping Sunday after working all night.

The Kmart store is open 24 hours a day, and many of the people at the HPD station at 61 Reisner said Sunday that they had simply been shopping or eating at a Sonic drive-in restaurant that adjoins the discount store's parking lot when they were arrested.

Kmart and Sonic supervisors referred all questions to their corporate headquarters, which were not open Sunday.

"We went to use the restroom at Kmart and to buy a Scrunchi (hair band), and when we came back to our car, cops were coming in (the parking lot) and they tied our hands," said Brandi Ratliff, 18, who said she was a straight-A student at Waller High School and never had any problems with the law.

Ratliff said that even though she and two friends told police they had just come out of the Kmart, all three were arrested and spent the night in jail.

"It was traumatic," said a tearful Ratliff on Sunday morning after her parents drove from Stafford to pay her $300 bail at the downtown city jail. "It was sick where they were holding us. A prostitute was fighting with another woman. The food they served was food you would serve to a dog, not a human."

Ratliff and her two friends, Kris Karsteter, 21, and Kyesa Scott, 18, all had pink marks on their wrists from where they said police had tied plastic handcuffs too tightly.

Scott said she didn't have the money to pay bail and so she pleaded guilty to avoid spending another night in jail.


Steve Campbell / Chronicle
Brandi Ratliff, left, and Kyesa Scott, both 18, comfort each other after being released from police custody. "It was traumatic," Ratliff said of her arrest in a Kmart parking lot and a night in jail.

Emily Demmler, 19, said: "All I was doing was eating ice cream."

Demmler said the only trouble she'd previously had with authorities was being called into the principal's office twice in elementary school for gossiping. She said she pulled her car into the Sonic lot shortly after midnight so she and her two friends could get some ice cream after a night of karaoke.

After about five minutes, police "just swarmed," Demmler said.

"We thought we were in the middle of a drug bust, and we thought, `We're cool; we're not doing anything wrong,' " said Demmler, a part-time lifeguard at the Jewish Community Center who is starting college this fall at the University of Houston.

Instead, all the patrons at the Sonic were ordered by police to march to the Kmart lot, where they joined throngs of other people who were being arrested, she said.

"My purse and my friend's purse were still in the car ... but the cop wouldn't let me get them," said Demmler, whose mother eventually recovered her car and both purses.

"We asked police why we were being arrested, and they said, `Everybody is receiving equal treatment from the Houston Police Department tonight.' It didn't matter what you were doing; they arrested you."

Demmler said many youths appearing to be 13 or 14 were arrested and taken to juvenile detention facilities, adding, "They even arrested a 10-year-old girl who was having dinner with her father and took her to juvenile detention.

"She got separated from her father and I asked her how old she was, and she told me she was 10," Demmler said. "She was dazed."


In a phone interview, Demmler claimed to have "huge marks on my arms" from tight handcuffs.

Leanne Williams said her 19-year-old son called her from jail and told her he showed police a receipt for bottled water from Kmart, but he was still arrested.

She said her son called her five times from the downtown jail, but police still couldn't locate him at 11 a.m. because his paperwork had been delayed.

"I gotta spend my Sunday at the jail searching for my son they can't find," said her husband, Jerome Williams.

Soneary Sy didn't know her 17-year-old son, a straight-A student, was arrested until he called her at 6 a.m.

"I didn't sleep all night waiting for my son to come home" said a sobbing Sy, a Cambodian immigrant who moved to Houston 22 years ago. "He tried to go to Kmart and as soon as he got to Kmart he was arrested."

 

[LovetoGiveRoses]

When I was a kid, we hung out behind a "Friendly's Ice Cream restaurant. We never got arrested, it as a social scene. The restaurant got a lot of business from us and was almost always full.

That was pretty stupid of the Kmart people to make a complaint. They should have known they'd get a lot of negative press.

 

[Tap-Out]

That is really really sad. Just goes to show you how a few bad apples can spoil the bunch.

I am just curious if there were people that were arrested who were actuially causing a problem. Police "usually" don't raid a place for no reason. So obvously there must have been some reason for the police to be there.

But I don't believe the police should have been so closed minded. If a person could have shown they had a valid reason for wanting to go into the K-Mart then they should have been let go on their way (like the two that were just getting ice cream, or the one who actuially had a reciept for a bottle of water).

 

[Guest]

Cops will be cops.

 

[Merlins Boon]

This isn't the first incident that the Houston police have gotten in trouble over. Already in this year alone they've shot and killed at least 13 people in arrests. The last one was a man who jumped into a woman's car and tried to make her gun the engine and run the cop down. The woman had her foot on the break however, preventing the man from moving the car.

When the cop pulled his gun out, she tried to tell him that she had it under control and that her infant was in the backseat in the car. The cop fired anyway and killed the man. Afterwards, the woman asked the cop why he shot when she told him she had it under control and that her baby was in the car.

The cop grabbed her by the chin, shook her and said "I had a good aim."

Ladies and gentlemen, you're tax dollars at work. I hope my city is the only one that's suffering from this plague of trigger happy bastards, and if it isn't, then I really hope you all will invest in bullet proof vests.

 

[Guest]

 

[Angel]

I'm concerned about the fact that they picked up a 10 year old who got seperated from her family she was dining out with.

And also the fact that they were arresting young people who were coming out of K-Mart after having spent money in it and were probably on their way home.

And "Patrons" of Sonic.

Did they even check out what was going on with ANY of these people before they started slapping on the cuffs and hauling them away?

 

[April]

Good point Angel. I bet there'll be quite a few lawsuits against the police department in the next few weeks. Especially from the father of that 10 year old.

 

[LovetoGiveRoses]

Even if they get a complaint about the kids the parking lot, they ought to differentiate between kids that are causing trouble (gangs, drunkedness, etc) vs. kids that are clearly sober and simply socializing.

I'll bet the 10 year old girl wasn't drunk and disorderly.

 

[Angel]

I'm sure there was a reason the police were there. I'll even assume that there were some people there who deserved to be arrested or at least removed from the property.


I just don't see how most of the actions of the police that night were at all justified.

I can't begin to imagine what that 10 year old went through mentally. Or her parents for that matter.

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

They were trying to send a message - how much do you want to bet that the store doesn't have this same problem in the near future?

Still, it seems excessive and it also seems like they opened themselves up to at least a few lawsuits, and a lot of bad publicity. Of course, there are several sides to all public incidents; the side of the accused, the side of the cops, the side that media presents, and the truth. Usually none of the sides are strictly the truth, but what the media presents is usually the farthest away from the truth and has the least facts.

Most communities have a different methodology for handling such problems and from what I have observed it works; they pass an "anti-cruising" ordinance and hand out tickets. Give out a few $300 tickets and kids get the word real quick. You don't need to take anyone to jail, no false arrests, and no one is traumatized.

 

[RosevilleCAguy]

Did anybody notice that over 450 people were arrested and it was 12:30 in the morning.


I'd say there was probably some justification for the police action.

I worked at a 7-11 in college. A lot of times kids would hang out in the parking lot. It was a real pain in the ass, fights, drinking, etc. I had to run them off all the time.


I also don't buy some of the innocence stuff. Buying scrunchies at midnight. Gimme a break. 450 is not a few people hanging out. Its an incipient riot

(pant, pant, pant...)

WHere's my freaking soap box...dammit!!!!!!!!

 

[RosevilleCAguy]

Even if they get a complaint about the kids the parking lot, they ought to differentiate between kids that are causing trouble (gangs, drunkedness, etc) vs. kids that are clearly sober and simply socializing.

I'll bet the 10 year old girl wasn't drunk and disorderly.

Yeah, and have some freaking liberal pundit bitch about how the poor, innocent teens were being singled out by the evil cops....

Maybe even some sort of profiling or discrimination claim being made.


Bust em all, I sez...


(pant, pant pant.....drooollllll)

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

I also don't buy some of the innocence stuff. Buying scrunchies at midnight. Gimme a break. 450 is not a few people hanging out. Its an incipient riot

If she bought a scrunchie then she probably would have a receipt right?

Like I said, there are much better ways to handle the situation even if the cops were justified for each and every single arrest.

 

[RosevilleCAguy]

If she bought a scrunchie then she probably would have a receipt right?

Like I said, there are much better ways to handle the situation even if the cops were justified for each and every single arrest.

Maybe. But today I'm in a "1968 Democratic Convention" law enforcement kind of mood......

 

[Angel]

I also don't buy some of the innocence stuff. Buying scrunchies at midnight. Gimme a break. 450 is not a few people hanging out. Its an incipient riot

Really? You've never been out with your friends late at night, ran into a store to pick up some shit? I was FOREVER running into stores in the middle of the night to pick up stupid little things like a scrunchie or a nail file. Shit happens when you're a girl, its hot etc. The kid with the water said he had a receipt. Cops didn't care.
I'm sure the scrunchie girls would have went through the same thing.

Sure it sounds idiotic, but women are crazy like that

Where do you live? Where I live, the city is still pretty much alive and kicking like this until well after 2am without incidents where the police need to be called.

Like I said above, I'm sure there were a bunch of people causing trouble. I also think a huge line was crossed arresting people pulling up to grab a bite to eat at Sonic, or the girl that was EATING HER ICE CREAM SHE BOUGHT THERE when she was arrested.

And I'm sure the 10 year old was gangbanging on the side when she became seperated from her parents and got slammed into a Juvenile Detention Center. I'll keep focusing on that one until the police in question have something to say about it.

 

[Merlins Boon]

Like I said, there are much better ways to handle the situation even if the cops were justified for each and every single arrest.

And just how does one justify arresting a ten year old girl having a meal with her father?

 

[RosevilleCAguy]

Really? You've never been out with your friends late at night, ran into a store to pick up some shit? I was FOREVER running into stores in the middle of the night to pick up stupid little things like a scrunchie or a nail file. Shit happens when you're a girl, its hot etc. The kid with the water said he had a receipt. Cops didn't care.
I'm sure the scrunchie girls would have went through the same thing.

Sure it sounds idiotic, but women are crazy like that

Where do you live? Where I live, the city is still pretty much alive and kicking like this until well after 2am without incidents where the police need to be called.

Like I said above, I'm sure there were a bunch of people causing trouble. I also think a huge line was crossed arresting people pulling up to grab a bite to eat at Sonic, or the girl that was EATING HER ICE CREAM SHE BOUGHT THERE when she was arrested.

And I'm sure the 10 year old was gangbanging on the side when she became seperated from her parents and got slammed into a Juvenile Detention Center. I'll keep focusing on that one until the police in question have something to say about it.

Whenever I go out shopping at midnight, I am always careful to bring along 425 good friends.

 

[RosevilleCAguy]

And just how does one justify arresting a ten year old girl having a meal with her father?

What kind of dad waits until midnight to feed his kid? What the heck is a ten year old doing out at 12:30 am, with or without daddy?

Seriously, I think that aspect was addressed by the liberal pundit comment earlier.

 

[Angel]

Yes, every single person who was there, between Sonic and K-Mart magically knew each other, arrived together or made plans to meet there.




Edited to Add: It's summer. Maybe the 10 year old and her father had an outing and grabbed a bite to eat late before they went home. Heaven forbid a kid be allowed to be out late with her parents late at night once in a great while.

 

[RosevilleCAguy]

Yes, every single person who was there, between Sonic and K-Mart magically knew each other, arrived together or made plans to meet there.

I knew it. A conspiracy of the far left using innocent appearing people in order to further thier anarchist agenda.


The 425 was in reference to the scope of the problem. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides where was her receipt?

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

And just how does one justify arresting a ten year old girl having a meal with her father?

In this case, one probably doesn't (if her story was true) - the statement was a hypothetical statement - that is why it contained the word "if".

 

[Angel]

Besides where was her receipt?

Would it have helped? ASSUMING the article and the comments in it are true it apparently didn't help the kid who HAD a receipt. Do you always keep your receipts? If its something small and/or consumable, I usually toss mine in the garbage the second I walk out the door.


I still stand by the opinion that there was a valid reason the police were there in the first place, and that there were troublemakers and people who needed to be removed from the parking lot. I also still believe that they made an error in judgement based on the article, assuming that at least some of the kids' 'testimony' was true.