H’mm, now let me get this one straight.
As Stephanie Stradley reports in detail (John McClain’s comments are here), Texans offensive guard Fred Weary left work at Reliant Park a little after noon on Tuesday. Weary, who is 6’4″, 308 lbs., was followed by a couple of Houston policemen in a squad car as he drove through the Reliant Park area to get on the South Loop and head home.
The officers followed Weary for about six miles and determined that he was “acting suspiciously” and “looking at (them) on several occasions.” After seeing him commit the heinous offense of making a bad lane change, the crack team of officers swooped into action and pulled Weary over on the shoulder of the West Loop, which just happens to be the busiest freeway in Houston. After stopping Weary, the officers ramped up their investigation and determined that the front license plate on Weary’s car was missing.
Weary was understandably irritated that the officiers had pulled him over in one of the most dangerous locations in Houston for doing something that occurs probably a million times in Houston each day. One thing led to another and, before you know it, the officers had Tasered Weary, arrested him and hauled him down to city jail. Verifying once again that it is virtually impossible to get someone processed out of jail in Houston in less than seven hours regardless of the offense, Weary was finally bailed out and able to head home at around 9:30 p.m. Quite a day off, eh?
As usual, HPD is contending that the officers acted reasonably in Tasering and arresting Weary. Count me as highly skeptical about that.
Update: The criminal case against Weary was dismissed in short order. Stay tuned.
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A lot of good police work takes place when cops do stop cars for minor infractions (license plate, weaving, improper lane change, etc) and find bigger infractions. I have no problem with that kind of pro-active policing.
Now, if it escalated beyond anything that was reasonable pro-active policing, I certainly don’t support that.
Shouldn’t the car have a camera that captured the taser incident? If so, I would think that would tell us if Weary appeared threatening, and whether the officers acted reasonably at that point.
At this point, it strikes me as just speculation, although quite a few people do suggest that Weary seems like a quality guy.
Kevin, do you have any empirical evidence for your statement that “a lot of good police work takes place when cops do stop cars for minor infractions”? Because of if we are talking about anecdotal impressions here, then my sense is that a tremendous amount of highly discriminatory and arbitrary police action results from police rationalizing their desire to stop a particular automobile over a minor infraction.
Look, the police had plenty of time and almost assuredly did run a check on Weary’s car while following him. Presumably, that didn’t generate any reason to stop Weary’s car, but that didn’t stop the police from pulling Weary over on Houston’s busiest freeway. Maybe Weary didn’t react particularly well to the policemen’s actions, but this incident has all the markings of one in which the police used extraordinarily poor judgment in the way they handled it.
I’ve been pulled over twice for DWB. I drive a Honda to avoid suspicion for driving a car that is too nice or too ratty looking. I’ve been tailed for 2 miles once for no apparent reason.
Kevin, it’s called profiling and it ain’t fun. I’m not complaining, I’m just letting you know how it affects my life.
Actually, I’m a believer in pulling someone over for the intended purpose. Picking something else just leaves a bad impression for everyone involved, including IMO the police. Following someone for an extended period of time infers the suspicion was other than “I think this guy is going to make a dangerous lane change sometime today.” So, to the citizens we’ll wonder just what the police are thinking each time they’re in the same lane, the effected person will feel persecuted unjustly, and the police will think that the laws are thier handbook for doing as they please.
Are this and the Walter’s incident justified uses of police force or examples of excessive force? Are these incidents perhaps an indication of a police force that is undermanned and underfunded?
While we can debate the answers to these questions, there is no denying that HPD is not doing itself any favors on the PR front. The Walter’s incident has made Houston into a no-tour zone for many indie rock and alternative bands. We’ll see what kind of fallout the Weary incident creates.