Orange Police Officer Involved In Fatal Shooting 'Indefinitely Suspended'

Orange, Texas

An Orange police officer who shot a West Orange man to death after a disturbance at an auto parts store has been indefinitely suspended.

Capt. Robert Arnold fatally shot James Whitehead, 28, outside an O'Reilly Auto Parts store July 26, according to Enterprise archives. Arnold was not on duty at the time.

Whitehead had been arguing with the store's employees while trying to return an item, according to reports.

Chief Sam Kittrell decided on the indefinite suspension Wednesday after an internal review of the incident, according to an Orange Police Department news release.

Source

San Antonio Park Cop Pleads No Contest In Plea Deal For Molesting Teen

San Antonio, Texas

A former San Antonio Park Police officer pleads no contest to the sexual assault of a child. Investigators say 42-year-old Ricardo Rodriguez had sex multiple times with a teenage family member. Rodriguez surrendered his peace officer's license and applied for deferred adjudication which is a form of probation. Sentencing is set for January 11th.

Source

Galveston Internal Affairs Officer Suspended For Unknown Reason

Galveston, Texas

The city police officer who until last month was head of the department’s internal affairs office was suspended from duty Friday until further notice.

Sgt. Michael Gray, who was a lieutenant until the city’s budget cuts a week ago reduced him and several other officers in rank, said he was told of the suspension one day after being relieved of his police ID card and escorted from the police station by Capt. Jeff Heyse.

The Daily News has seen a copy of the sergeant’s suspension letter. It contained no reason for the suspension and told him to remain available to report to the police station between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. each weekday.

Police Chief Charles Wiley declined to comment, saying he "would be a fool" to speak to the media about personnel matters because of litigation against him by Galveston Municipal Police Association.

Source

Sansom Park Police Chief And 3 Officers Accused of Corruption - All Resign Ahead of Termination

Police Chief Tony White

Officer Andrew Young

Sgt. Thomas Milner

Note: Photo of Josh Smith not available

Sansom Park, Texas

Police Chief Tony White and three of his officers have abruptly resigned after a long list of allegations were filed against them, including displaying photos at the police station of a rape victim's injuries, padding time cards to boost their pay and letting officers patrol the city without proper supervision.

One of the officers, Sgt. Thomas Milner, also is accused of giving known pedophiles a juvenile's home address while in a chat room in hopes of luring the individuals to the home as part of a sex sting operation.

The allegations were detailed in a complaint sent to the Sansom Park City Council in September and signed by five fellow officers, who stated that they had lost confidence in White's ability to supervise officers and manage the department.

"Chief White does not try to control dishonesty and allows unethical activity to take place," the officers wrote. Those actions, they said, created what they described as a "hostile environment."

To avoid being fired, White, 41, Milner, 42, and officers Andrew Young, 28, and Josh Smith, 32, submitted resignation letters after the city placed White on administrative leave and began termination procedures on the other officers.

Source

Houston Motorcycle Riders Say They Are Being Targeted By Police Officer

Houston, Texas

Some Houston bikers admit they can look intimidating.

"I'm not a criminal," says one biker. "I may look like one but I'm not a criminal."

But he and scores of other bike riders say they're being targeted by veteran Houston Police officer Rick Holtsclaw.

They say they're being harassed by Holtsclaw because they ride motorbikes. And none of these bikers seem to know why. "This guy's got a rub against somebody that has ridden a motorcycle before and he's carrying it to the beat," one biker believes.

Officer Holtsclaw is using the city’s noise ordinance as the backbone of his quick trigger on writing tickets.

According to a police union official, Holtsclaw's supervisor and a city prosecutor questioned whether the city's noisy vehicle ordinance could be used against motorcycles calling it a "gray area.” But a city legal opinion ruled it was enforceable and that cleared the way for Holtsclaw to continue writing bike riders tickets.

The officer, according to reports, has written 200 citations for noisy vehicles in the last 9 months.

Source

Austin Cop Fired,Rehired, Then Fired Again Has Been Arrested On Multiple Counts Related To 2009 DV Incident

Leander, Texas

Leander police on Tuesday arrested Leonardo Quintana, a regular on this blog lately, on one count of criminal trespass, two counts of assault, family violence with bodily injury and one count of criminal mischief. Quintana posted $8,000 bail and was released.

Here's a rundown on his troubles:

He was surrounded in suspicion in connection with a 2009 fatal shooting of Nathaniel Sanders II during a struggle. Quintana was fired in May after his arrest in an unrelated drunken driving case.

He was reinstated by an arbitrator, then fired again Oct. 27 after an internal investigation into the alleged domestic disturbance call that led to this week's charges.

Pretty soon, he'll have his own dedicated page here.

Source

El Paso Cop Disciplined For Beating Motorcyclist, With City Offering $15k Settlement

El Paso, Texas

A city employee says he was beaten up by a cop after he was stopped because his license plate wasn't visible. The officer claimed he was evading arrest.

The two officers involved are Steven Smith and Charles Romo. There is a video, with Officer Smith making comments.

Officer Smith received a 20-hour paid suspension. But this wasn't the first complaint filed against Smith. At the time of the incident, he had 10 complaints filed against him. Back in 2002, Smith left work early, saying he was sick. But hours later, he was involved in a bar fight. He was later suspended for unprofessional conduct and violating their sick leave policy. Then again in 2004, he was asked by a civilian to move a shopping cart in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The situation escalated into a fight and smith was once again suspended.

The city has agreed to a $15k settlement.

Source