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Loading ...Forth Worth City Council requests federal investigation into gay bar raid
07.22.2009 10:30am EDT
(Fort Worth) The Fort Worth City Council has asked for a federal investigation to be made into the June police raid at the Rainbow Lounge gay bar. This would be the fourth inquiry made into the bar raid that sent one man to the hospital with a brain injury.
Council members explained that the federal investigation would reaffirm information found from inquiries made by the Fort Worth police department.“We want to be able to assure people that this is a thorough and accurate investigation, and that’s part of the reason we’re taking the actions here,” City Council member Joel Burns said.
Two investigations have been made by the Fort Worth Police Department into the incident. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is also investigating two of their officers involved in the raid.
The request for a federal investigation came several hours before Fort Worth officials released personal records for five of the seven officers involved in the raid. The records showed that Officer Jason R. Ricks, one of the officers involved in the raid, has had a history of misconduct.
Ricks has been arrested in the past by New Braunfels police after he punched a bus driver in the face in July of 2006. Ricks was off duty and had been drinking for a couple hours when the fight occurred. Ricks was disciplined several other times during 2006.
Captain W.A. Read, one of Ricks’s supervisors, wrote in a September 2006 letter that Ricks had “shown a history of poor decisions and bad judgment” and added that another lieutenant “has put forth a valid argument that Officer Ricks does not show the maturity level that is required of a Fort Worth police officer.”
Mayor Mike Moncrief supports the City Council’s request for a federal investigation as well as the Fort Worth Police Department.
“I am very pleased with the way the Police Department’s investigation is progressing,” he said. “I continue to be very confident in Chief [Jeff] Halstead and our department that they will resolve this issue in an open, timely and unbiased manner.”
Read the full Dallas Morning News article here.
Good move. I’m glad to see this, not least because the mayor and others have confidence in their findings. The only problem is the Mayor’s continued support of the police chief whose imprudent words turned this into a national story. If you have a loose cannon on the force, then what the hell is going in when the chief doesn’t have enough sense to take a look at his personnel file before making a blanket endorsement of police actions at the bar?
Let’s see. . . The Police Chief Halstead says that none of his men were there though the photos take show at least one. The TABC admits that only two of their guys were there. However, the witnesses report a large group of officers with handcuffs and violent behavior. One has to wonder who those other guys were since Halstead and TABC are excusing themselves near-entirely. The attempted murder of one bar patron involved 5 officers, and landed the young 150 guy in intensive care.
C’mon Halstead and TABC. Enough lies. Hopefully, federal investigation can tell us precisely which officers and which departments were involved. Halstead and TABC seem to be gullible lightweights who believe whatever their officers tell them. Even if a kiss was blown at an officer, as claimed, this does not warrant murderous assault.
We need jail terms for the offenders and likely more credible police leadership.