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Here is an update on the raid of Gay Club by Fort Worth Police and TABC agents.
http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1524071.html
TABC's report:
http://media.star-telegram.com/smedia/2009/08/06/06/rainbow-...
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Comments
Amazing
Amazing to hear a state agency admit that they and some of their personnel messed up. Someone is still lying and there is still some sort of cover-up but there may be light being spread. The sergeant supervising these two has retired, in scandal cases that is usually a sign that someone higher up is covering his ass.
If this is happening to gays, it's happening to other groups, too. This kind of misuse of authority is attracted to underclasses like lightning to state capitol buildings. Everyone in Texas should write their state representative to express concern about a state agency that is being poorly administered.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Actually.....
The administrator of the TABC apologized in mid-July (http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_11584.php) and basically threw his agents that were involved under the bus well before the TABC report was released (yesterday). The problem is the city of Fort Worth. The police chief made insensitive comments initially and while now saying the right things is clearly hoping it will all go away. In addition, the mayor of Fort Worth is doing his best to ignore it. Their internal investigation is still dragging along. My understanding is that the involved officers are still on regular duty. The Fort Worth city council has requested an independent investigation by the US attorney, but haven't gotten an official response. My guess is that the US attorney is waiting until after the Fort Worth investigation is published to decide what to do (as a way to apply pressure to Fort Worth PD to come clean on their own).
US Attorney Has Declined to Conduct an Independent Investigation
I just read this. He says it's not within his authority and says it's up to the FBI. Here's the article: http://www.star-telegram.com/855/story/1525480.html
TABC?
Could some kind ’Merican explain to this dumb Brit what TABC stands for?
All I can think of is “Texas Anti-Bonzi Commissionâ€. :-)
Gabi.
Gabi.
Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission
Gotta love it. Now we get to see what is actually done to the agents.
What they do
The TABC is generally supposed to make sure that places that serve alcoholic beverages adhere to the state law. ie: Not serving drinks to obviously intoxicated people, not serving to underage drinkers, not serving after mandated hours, etc.
http://lilithlangtree.tglibrary.com/
~Lili
Write the story that you most desperately want to read.
TABC
Hi,Gabi
I’m not “Merican†but Texan, in order to help you understand, TABC stands for Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
Best Wishes
TG_Karmon
P.S.
I love your work!!!!!!
Not seeing homophobia, at this point.
After reading the article, and the TABC report, all I see here are procedural infractions so far, a few of which had nothing to do with the Rainbow arrests, but an special event that occurred before the "inspection."
I also see laziness on the TABC officers for not filing the proper paperwork for the arrest that led them, legitimately, to inspect the bar.
Additionally, I see a very drunk (by his own admission) man who is thrown to the floor, because he was resisting arrest, who then later pukes his guts out five times and falls over to slam his face on the concrete because his hands were cuffed and he couldn't keep his balance.
The only thing that stands out from the report is the failure of the TABC officers to say they had to forcibly take down the drunk for resisting arrest. But since that was the FWPD that did that I don't see where it would be relevant to note in their report. That would be FWPD's job to note. But I guess that since they were there it has to be noted, procedurally.
Being a witness to a number of these events, I've seen police(or off duty police acting as security) enter a bar (gay, lesbian, and regular)do the exact same thing. Being harassed by the bar patrons for being homophobic is par for the course. Normally I just shake my head at the idiots that cry and scream. I cooperate with the police and they leave me alone, even when I've been drunk, like they did with a few of the patrons at the bar who they questioned and let fly with no trouble.
However, it is also notable that out of an estimated 150 customers the only people that were arrested were the obvious drunk and belligerent guy and the guy that groped a cop. Both idiots.
It is also notable that the injured drunk was kicked out of the bar three times that night (according to the owner).
At this point I'm coming down on the cops side. Granted they were stupid for admittingly not following procedure at points to the letter, but they did their job and got a drunk off the metaphorical street who could have been behind the wheel and out there killing your friends.
Is there a chance that there is a cover-up? Sure. Is there a chance that there was a homophobe cop there? Sure. Is there a chance that the local gay community is blowing this out of proportion for face time? Sure.
So far I see that the two TABC cops need to be disciplined for not following procedure to the letter, a bar that needs to fire its doorman for allowing an obviously drunk guy repeatedly into the bar after being kicked out, and gay community that needs to chill out or make this situation even worse than it is for the sake of its own community and the good cops around the city that had nothing to do with the bar in the first place.
http://lilithlangtree.tglibrary.com/
~Lili
Write the story that you most desperately want to read.
Not as bad but...
Failure to report any use of force with injuries can become a class d felony or high level misdemeanor depending on the severity of injuries. It could also be a civil rights violation, official misconduct, conspiracy charges (none of the people reported or even hinted at the injuries, so a conspiracy could exist) or a couple of other violations. You have to read between the lines sometimes.
I know a bunch of people that went down for 2 years just because they didn't report a use of force. The government claimed misdemeanor conspiracy charges and class d assault.
Love,
Paula
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
The Coda
Chapterhouse: Dune
Paula
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
The Coda
Chapterhouse: Dune
Inserting things where they don't belong
You say none of the people reported the force issue. Has the FWPD report been made available yet?
Something also to note is that the injury didn't occur in the bar when the drunk was taken down, but outside when he fell over and yakked, at which time the ambulance was called. With a record of that, the witnesses in the bar, and the photographic evidence it would be the height of stupidity to conspire to hide the fact that the injury didn't take place. Granted, there are stupid people out there, but is it reading between the lines or inserting assumptions where there is no evidence.
Check out the picture again. Unless the floor of the bar is rough concrete (which I've never seen, but not ruling out) the injury is more akin to a sharp blow to a hard surface and road rash consistent with what the report reads.
If we assume that there is a conspiracy then we might also assume that the drunk didn't fall, but was pushed considering his compliance and lack of attitude afterward. We can read anything we want into the scene. That's why there has to be a chain of evidence to verify what happened. I'm just saying we can't assume we know what happened and not to go off writing hate messages at the PD and TABC and riling up the community until all the evidence is in.
It doesn't do anything but make the community look like a lynch mob.
http://lilithlangtree.tglibrary.com/
~Lili
Write the story that you most desperately want to read.