Galveston, Texas’ police chief has been placed on administrative leave while the city investigates a botched raid that caused an estimated $5,000 in property damage to an innocent family’s home. Police subsequently withheld information about the raid, and city officials didn’t learn about it until days later following local news reports, according to The Houston Chronicle.
Galveston seems to have plenty to be embarrassed about. On January 22, police raided the home of Erika Rios and her family at 2 a.m. The SWAT team issued a warrant for Cameron Vargas, a 17-year-old homicide suspect who had visited the Rios family earlier that night but did not live with them and had left their home before police raided it.
“My kids and I were sleeping at home,” Rios He said. “Around 2 a.m. we were awakened by wooden pellets flying through our door and the sounds of the Galveston Police Department [saying] ‘Come out with your hands up.'” Tape shows the teenagers — Rios’ two children and a friend were reportedly present — walking through the house with their arms raised. Other footage shows officers dragging the woman, obviously Rios, go out the front door. She claims that the police handcuffed her and her son.
On Facebook publishTony Buzbee, one of Rios’ attorneys, argued that police continued to destroy property “after they knew that [had] made a mistake” and told Rios’ daughter that they were looking for “guns and drugs.” Moreover, he said, police conducted the raid despite knowing “the real location” of Vargas (an allegation that the Galveston Municipal Police Association competitionsas reported by Galveston County’s The Daily newswhich provided extensive coverage as the story unfolded).
Galveston placed Police Chief Doug Balli on leave for failing to report the raid. “The investigation into the incident is ongoing, but I didn’t know what happened until I read the article in the paper,” Mayor Craig Brown said. City officials said Monday that the county sheriff’s office will also investigate the incident.
City Manager Brian Maxwell has stated that the city will pay Rios for the damage done to her home, but the simple compensation seems less than what her family owes.
“We want their windows replaced, their doors fixed. We want their fence fixed, wires fixed and water fixed,” Buzbee He said Wednesday. “All the things you needlessly destroyed have been repaired and we want you to pay their medical bills which they need for glasses in their feet and knees.”
Buzbee said the city has until Friday to act. “We are expecting someone from [the city] to solve this problem,” he said He said. – We will wait, but not too long. Neither Rios’ attorneys nor the city had apparently made any further statements on the matter as of Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Vargas had his wards fell just days after the raid.
Cities, police departments and unions routinely try to protect offending officers stiff civil victims. In Galveston, the police union quickly supported You dance.