Houston Police Chief Says Beating Video Hurt Reputation

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Houston, Texas

Charles McClelland points to the statistics when evaluating his first year as Houston's police chief: Violent crime decreased in all categories in the Bayou City.

Yet, it was a videotape showing police officers beating a black teenage burglary suspect that grabbed national attention in McClelland's inaugural year. The video of the March 2010 arrest, released to the media in February by a community activist, resulted in harsh criticism by civil rights and community groups and spawned several town hall meetings where residents described other incidents of alleged mistreatment by police.

"It did hurt the reputation of (the Police Department) and it was an unfortunate and isolated incident," McClelland told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "It certainly in no way went to the heart and soul of the 5,300 police officers and 1,700 civilian support staff that do a very good job every single day."

The surveillance video showed several officers kicking, punching and stomping on then 15-year-old Chad Holley during his arrest at a self-storage business in southwest Houston. Four officers were later fired and indicted on various charges.

"The only reason the Holley incident was done the way it was done is because there was irrefutable video evidence. But in the vast majority of cases, there is hardly any discipline whatsoever," said Kallinen, part of the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice, a collection of various civil rights and minority rights groups, including the NAACP and LULAC.

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