Following article was published by the Houston Chronicle. Amazing that we live in a very violent society where enforcers are judge and executioners.
July 28, 2007, 12:53PM
Man struck by police saw freedom for 1 hour
New specifics from Pasadena PD emerge on the day of his funeral
By ROBERT CROWE
On the day of Pedro Gonzales Jr.'s funeral, community activists Friday called for a federal inquiry into the Pasadena man's death as new details emerged, further complicating a case in which the actions of two officers have come under scrutiny.
Grieving family members learned Friday that the man had been released from the Pasadena Jail about one hour before officers Jason Buckaloo and Christopher Jones re-arrested him on suspicion of public intoxication. Police said Gonzales — spotted sitting in the bed of a pickup less than a mile from the jail — resisted arrest and force was needed to restrain him on July 21. A few hours later, Gonzales was found dead in a jail cell. He had injuries to his head, arm and ribs.
"There's no way he would have been able to buy alcohol because he only had 64 cents in his pocket when he left the jail," Rick Dovalina, spokesman of the League of United Latin American Citizens Council, said Friday.
As the Harris County District Attorney's Office and the Internal Affairs Division of the Pasadena Police Department conduct investigations into Gonzales' death, Dovalina and other activists said an independent investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice is necessary.
Dovalina met with Gonzales' family Friday to discuss all that he had learned about the incident after a meeting this week with Pasadena Police Chief Mike Massey, Capt. Bud Corbett and other officials.
Witness wasn't mentioned
Dovalina reported that officials told him Gonzales was released about 1 a.m. the morning before he was re-arrested. During that meeting, Dovalina said, police officials never mentioned to him that a witness had told police that Gonzales was motionless when the officers hit him.
They also never mentioned that witness Evelyn Moreno had called 911 to report that she had seen the officers beating Gonzales for two minutes.
A recording of the the emergency call Moreno made at 2:09 a.m. reveals the concern in her voice. The 20-year-old woman said she was driving home when she noticed the officers hitting Gonzales outside a business in the 1300 block of East Harris.
On the recording it is difficult to hear Moreno, who called from a pay phone, because she initially wanted to remain anonymous. The female dispatcher's responses seem to indicate that she understood that Moreno was reporting police brutality.
The dispatcher gave Moreno a non-emergency phone number to call, but Moreno declined to call, saying she did not think anyone would take her seriously because the dispatcher did not seem too concerned.
Pasadena officials said an ambulance or police unit was not dispatched to the scene after Moreno called because the incident happened in a matter of two minutes. Paramedics treated Gonzales at the jail after he complained of injuries, but he refused further treatment and was placed in a cell before he died, said Capt. Corbett.
About 7:30 a.m., Gonzales was found dead in a holding cell. Preliminary autopsy reports show Gonzales died from a punctured lung related to a fractured rib. Police said the injuries were the result of force they were required to use because he resisted arrest for public intoxication.
Although autopsy results are incomplete, Dovalina said he doesn't believe Gonzales was drunk or on drugs before his death. The man would not have had time to go to a store to purchase alcohol because Texas businesses must stop selling beer or alcohol after 1 a.m. And there are no bars near the jail because it is a dry portion of Pasadena, family members said.
"It's not right what happened to my husband," said his wife, Diana Gonzales. "He had a 13-year-old daughter and two sons who loved him." Gonzales' family buried him after a simple funeral Friday. To pay for the service, one relative sold an old van. Others chipped in what little they could.
Activists are calling for a federal review of local investigations because, they said, Pasadena police have changed their stories multiple times and held back key information before the Chronicle began inquiring into Gonzales' death.
Pasadena police officials stated Monday that Gonzales was possibly injured about 2 a.m. when he tripped and fell in a parking lot as police officers escorted him to a patrol car while arresting him for public intoxication.
After the Chronicle asked police on Tuesday to explain how he could have suffered multiple injuries by tripping, Corbett said Gonzales sustained some injuries during a struggle with Jones and Buckaloo.
Gonzales' family is especially troubled that Buckaloo had previously been indicted on charges of using excessive force on a 15-year-old South Houston High School student in 2001. A jury found him not guilty in a 2002 trial of official oppression.
Jones, who began working for Pasadena PD this year, had previously worked for the Grandview Police Department in Missouri from April 2002 to July 2006.
A city of Grandview human resources director said he voluntarily left the department. There were no complaints in his personnel file, she said.
robert.crowe@chron.com
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