Activists claim HPD was warned about officer misconduct and evidence fabrication prior to botched raid
KTRK
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) Activists held a news conference Wednesday morning, claiming Houston police had prior warning about officer misconduct before the deadly Harding Street raid in 2019.
The group We The People Organize gathered in front of HPD headquarters. They stood with photos of the Tuttle family and their dog, who were killed during the raid, and posters that said No more lies. A house divided cannot stand, and today, we are standing in front of a divided house, said Noel Pinnock, CEO of Texas Cops and Communities Incorporated.
Mon, Feb 1st 2021 8:06pm
Tim Cushing
We still haven t seen an end to the fallout resulting from a botched (and bogus) drug raid in Houston that ended with two residents killed by police officers. It also ended with five officers wounded one of them paralyzed. The raid was predicated on false statements made by Officer Gerald Goines, who secured permission from a judge to perform a no-knock raid, claiming the residents were armed and selling heroin.
While guns were recovered, no heroin was. Indeed, no evidence of drug dealing was recovered just personal amounts of marijuana and cocaine. The informant that supposedly made the heroin buy never existed and the supposed result of this controlled buy was actually heroin pulled from an officer s squad car. All of Goines lies led to two deaths and five injured officers. Goines is currently facing a slew of charges, including two counts of felony murder.
More Houston officers indicted in wake of deadly drug raid
Juan Lozano/AP
FILE - This Feb. 20, 2019, file photo shows a makeshift memorial with flowers and candles that have been set up at the front door of a home in Houston where a couple who lived there were killed during a Jan. 28, 2019, drug raid by Houston police. A second Houston police officer has been charged with murder and is among additional officers who have been indicted as part of an ongoing investigation into a Houston Police Department narcotics unit following the deadly 2019 drug raid, prosecutors announced Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Juan Lozano)