The Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) - Twelve more police supervisors have been suspended in connection with the department’s handling of a trespassing raid that has prompted accusations of coercion against the captain who led the roundup and a $100 million lawsuit against the city.
Nine sergeants, two lieutenants and a captain were suspended with pay on Monday.
Last weekend, a Houston Police Department captain who ordered the arrests of 278 people at a Kmart parking lot in west Houston was suspended Saturday pending an internal affairs inquiry into the controversial bust.
Capt. Mark Aguirre, a 28-year veteran of the department and the force’s highest-ranking Hispanic officer, was relieved of his duties after meeting with internal affairs officers, Aguirre’s lawyer, Terry Yates, said earlier.
Police cited an investigation by HPD’s internal affairs division in declining to comment on the latest suspensions.
But they confirmed that criminal allegations led to Saturday’s suspension of Aguirre. Spokesmen for the department said Aguirre, a 23-year HPD veteran, was suspended because of allegations that he tried to influence other officers’ statements to investigators about the incident.
Many of those arrested said they were customers swept up in the raids and that police ignored evidence that they had done nothing wrong.
One of those arrested, Justin Esparza, filed a $100 million lawsuit in U.S. district court on Monday alleging that Aguirre and the city of Houston falsely arrested him for “attempted trespass.”
Aguirre ordered the arrests Aug. 17 of hundreds of people gathered peacefully at a 24-hour Kmart Super Center parking lot on Westheimer or eating at the Sonic Drive-in next door. Most of those arrested were charged with trespassing.