It has been 3 years since the gun-battle at a biker bar in Waco Texas. 9 dead, 18 injured, 177 in arrested.
However, in those 3 years, there has only been one trial, and it resulted in a hung jury. More than 150 of the criminal cases have been dismissed outright.
Pause, and boggle at that a bit. Then ask yourself, “how would this have played out if the gangs had been non-white?” The biker gangs involved mostly look like weekending retired investment bankers and small businessmen. (Real bikers can’t afford $30,000 chromed-out Wide Glides))
Get that guy a charge cable for his iPhone!
There are many things about the story that are bizarre and embarrassing to law enforcement. For one, the cops expected a fight and, well, stood around and waited for it to start. [houstonchronicle]
The meeting was billed as an information luncheon on motorcycle safety and legislation.
Unknown to the public, however, law enforcement feared that two of the largest motorcycle gangs in Texas were about to settle up after more than a year of skirmishes and roadside fights. They lined up, many of them undercover, near the restaurant as nearly 300 bikers converged near the center of town, not far from the Baylor University campus, wheeling heavy Harley Davidsons into the parking lot of the popular franchise restaurant known for waitresses in skimpy outfits.
Officers – including an 11-member SWAT team – waited nearby in 10 police vehicles, joined by law enforcement agents from the Texas Department of Public Safety, game wardens and federal firearms agents.
3 years is not a swift trial by a jury of one’s peers, by any measure. And, with so much police presence at the scene of the crime, it’s pretty amazing that they can’t seem to make any charges stick. Especially since there was pretty good security-cam video of what happened, and the police pretty much nabbed everyone at the scene of the shooting, red-handed.
I set a marker in my calendar to check back on this story every year going forward. So, in the last year the movement on this case has been: 1 trial but it was flubbed. It’s kind of amazing that you could get a hung jury over something like this, but we’re talking about Waco, Texas.
Does anyone want to bet against me? I have $1 that says that none of these blockheads will be convicted of anything, ever.
I’ll update you next year.
Game Wardens!? GAME WARDENS!? Where was the Public Library’s SWAT team? Oh, I know: budget cuts.
“Pause, and boggle at that a bit. Then ask yourself, “how would this have played out if the gangs had been non-white?” The biker gangs involved mostly look like weekending retired investment bankers and small businessmen. (Real bikers can’t afford chromed-out Wide Glides))”
Remember that scene at the end of Dr. Strangelove with all of the stock footage of nuke detonations?
I really fucking hate this country.
GAME WARDENS!
You beat me to it. Why not some Eagle Scouts and parking meter readers while they were at it?
Interesting fact from the linked article:
“Bikers weren’t the only ones shooting, however. Ballistics would later show that four of the nine people killed were slain by weapons fired by Waco police officers.”
Maybe it really wasn’t a gunfight but mass-self-defence. Everybody was firing wildly to defend themselves from all those flying bullets, meaning they’re all innocent. If you avoid thinking about it and are a big fan of the NRA and platitudes like “guns don’t kill people”, I can almost see how you might hesitate to vote guilty.
As we all know, the only way to protect yourself from bad guy bullets is to fill the air with good guy bullets.
Not sure about texas, but in Oregon, the game wardens are state police, and in many states have the same type of training and certification as law enforcement officers.
jrkrideau@#2:
You beat me to it. Why not some Eagle Scouts and parking meter readers while they were at it?
Joking aside, since the cops apparently thought there was going to be a fight, why didn’t they show up in advance of the party and start checking everyone’s carry permits? Instead of waiting for the guns to start blazing then charging in with guns blazing.
Sometimes the best way to stop a stupid person with a gun is to do something smart.
Trickster Goddess@#3:
“Bikers weren’t the only ones shooting, however. Ballistics would later show that four of the nine people killed were slain by weapons fired by Waco police officers.”
The linked article has a lot of interesting and odd stuff in it. So, yeah, the cops killed almost as many people as the bikers, and the cops were packing military-style gear (seriously: AR-15s with suppressors and holo-sights, WTF?) it would be very easy to tell from the terminal ballistics who was hit with a high-velocity .223 as opposed to a handgun round. It’s like the cops were another gang that showed up for the fight, and they won.
Because of the lawsuits that will result from the police’s inaction/action the jurisdiction will probably be bankrupted. “Collateral damage.”
Here’s another bit I don’t quite get:
If I read that right, he was found not guilty by the jury so the judge declared it a mistrial. I.e.: “you jury idiots didn’t find him guilty like I told you!” – that’s not a ‘mistrial’ that’s an ‘exoneration’. But instead then let’s try him for something else, and something else again, whatever it takes until we get a conviction.
There’s so much messed-up going on in this story.
LykeX@#6:
As we all know, the only way to protect yourself from bad guy bullets is to fill the air with good guy bullets.
After all, guns don’t kill, bullets do!
StonedRanger@#6:
Not sure about texas, but in Oregon, the game wardens are state police, and in many states have the same type of training and certification as law enforcement officers.
I think it’s the same out here in Pennsylvania. The point is more that the cops also came loaded for a gang-fight; look, they even brought other allied gangs in!
Hey, Marcus.
Have you found any of that gold, which the embedded advertisements tell us is “out there”?
bmiller@#11:
Have you found any of that gold, which the embedded advertisements tell us is “out there”?
Is that what that stuff was? I tossed it in a drawer and forgot about it. I want bitcoin, damn it! Not metal! BITCOIN!
Marcus Ranum @ 8
If Texas requires a unanimous decision by a jury in a criminal trial, then this would be a hung jury and therefore a mistrial.
Off fighting Library Wars.