Monday, June 15, 2015

I think the city of Waco, and the county, are in deep, deep doodoo

Four weeks after the deadly May 17th shooting incident outside a Waco Twin Peaks restaurant, more details have come out concerning the incident, but significant questions still remain about the actions taken by law enforcement and the police’s account of what transpired.
...
Police in Waco still have yet to state how many bikers, if any, were killed by the police, or to explain why the police showed up in force at all prior to the meeting on May 17th.

In a statement on Friday, the police said that of 16 officers that were in the parking lot, only three fired a total of 12 shots.  However, the statement still didn’t clarify how many of the bikers were killed by police. Authorities say they have not recieved final autopsy results that would clarify ballistics.
Really?  Four weeks later?  In a case where they'd be working fast as they could to get everything they could?  I could be mistaken but that does sound like 'Keep delaying as long as we can.'

Then there’s the issue of the vague charges and mass arrests: if innocent people were arrested, held for weeks, and publicly accused of heinous crimes, it’s a nightmare scenario for dozens of people, impacting their work, family and personal reputations.

There are mounting reasons to believe that’s what happened. As the AP reported on May 22nd, over 115 of the men taken into custody had no criminal record but were still held on $1,000,000 bond, for what have been called ‘fill in the name” charges of engaging in organized criminal activity:

This is sounding more and more like the PD and SO really screwed the pooch.  And sooner or later this is going to blow up all the way.  Especially after this:
In fact, Lori said, the biker community is rife with reports about witnesses who heard the discharge of lots of high-powered weaponry after a few initial pop-pop sounds of handguns. The reports sounded like they came from “muzzled or suppressed high-powered weapons,” said Lori, though she wasn’t there. The theory is that the heavy fire came from tactical police officers.
And now
The Waco police press release on Friday confirmed the use of suppressors.

And they keep upping the number of weapons found.  Wonder how many of those were locked in trunks or whatever and had nothing to do with the meet/fight/whatever?

Does not smell good, folks.

I've got a friend in the area, one of the people arrested on that million-dollar bond crap handles their lawn work; has a franchise from a major company.  Now, considering that just about everyone runs background checks on employees anymore, I tend to think they'd have done that before allowing the franchise.  He finally got his bond reduced, and his lawyer is working on the suit.  Along with the general bullcrap, this had him in jail for a couple of weeks in a very busy season AND had him listed as taking part in organized crime, which would be bad for anyones' business. 

1 comment:

Pawpaw said...

Oh, it's not just law enforcement bullcrap. Although it looks like some of my brethren might have been a little overzealous in their use of handcuffs that afternoon.

Hizzoner could have set the bonds anywhere he wanted to. The best answer to overzealous arresting is a cool-headed local judge. Checks and balances, maybe you've heard of them. Once the bond is set, it's attorney time. Get you a lawyer and talk about it in court.

Who knows why these things go bad, and I'm sure they'll sort it out in the coming weeks. The police were there to stop trouble, and it appears that is what they did.

Why are the autopsies taking so long? Ask the medical examiner. He doesn't work for the police. And why haven't the autopsies been released? Ask the local DA. He doesn't work for the police either.