FORT WORTH (AP)
Nov 5 2009, 2:54 PM |
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Texas' liquor board plans to change the way it conducts
investigations into excessive use of force allegations, the agency said
Thursday, after its agents were accused of wrongdoing during a raid at
a gay bar that left a customer with severe head wounds.
Fort
Worth police, who assisted during the raid, also plan to change their
policies on bar checks and public intoxication arrests in light of the
raid, Police Chief Jeffrey Halstead said at a news conference across
from the bar.
However, the investigation by the Texas
Alcoholic Beverage Commission did not find that the bar was targeted
because of its gay and lesbian customers, and said agents didn't use
force beyond what was necessary and reasonable. An inquiry by Fort
Worth police also determined its officers didn't use excessive force.
Fort
Worth and liquor board officials had been on what police billed as a
routine license inspection for a new business when they arrived at the
Rainbow Lounge on June 28.
TABC agent Chris Aller and agent
trainee Jason Chapman were accused of targeting the business because it
was a gay bar. They also were accused of using excessive force when
they arrested Jose Macias, George Armstrong and Chad Gibson during the
bar check.
Those three were among six people arrested for
public intoxication. Gibson suffered a severe head injury while in the
agents' custody, the agency and police have said. The raid led to
numerous protest marches and rallies by gay rights groups, which
demanded independent investigations.
The liquor board
cleared the agents of using excessive force in its 74-page report but
also said they violated several policies that night, said TABC
Administrator Alan Steen. Aller, Chapman and their supervisor, Sgt.
Terry Parsons, were fired, the agency said in August as a result of the
policy violations.
"I want to take another opportunity to
say that this is not how we treat people, and we have been looking at
this from every angle to find ways to make sure it does not happen
again," Steen said.
The TABC said it will hire additional
internal affairs investigators who will handle use of force allegations
instead of allowing officers' supervisors to investigate. The agency
also plans to review its officer hiring process; make policy changes
designed to increase supervisor oversight; and hire an inspector to
monitor enforcement and compliance. It also wants TABC regional
liaisons to reach out to various community groups.
Fort
Worth Police investigated eight officers, clearing five of all
wrongdoing and ordering brief unpaid suspensions for three who violated
policies. Two of those were suspended for one day, the other for three
days.
Rainbow Lounge manager Randy Norman said he was
outraged by the punishment of only a few days suspensions for the Fort
Worth officers.
"That's a joke, a slap on the hand," he said.
Halstead
said he doesn't believe the officers went into the bar with malice but
apologized for the "fear and confusion" they generated that night. He
said people's perception of what is excessive force and law
enforcement's standard for proving it are different.
"I did what I thought was fair, what I can prove and what I can live with," Halstead said.
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