TEXAS BAR RAID FOLLOW UP

Administrator Alan Steen of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) announced that the investigation into the Fort Worth Rainbow Lounge raid on June 28th has resulted in the firing of three TABC employees.

The investigation found numerous violations of TABC policies, most of which were outlined by Administrator Steen as early as last July in an interview with The Dallas Voice.

Steen said in that interview that if the agents had sought approval from the supervisor before the Rainbow Lounge inspection, it shouldn’t have been granted because he doesn’t think there was sufficient cause for the inspection. He also said that the eight law enforcement officers and the paddy wagon that were present likely constituted an excessive show of force.

In addition, some of the agents wore uniforms that read "STATE POLICE" on the back when, in fact, there is no State Police agency and those are “special events uniforms” which TABC policy prohibits during bar inspections. Agents are only supposed to dress in street clothes when conducting bar inspections.

Agent Trainee Jason Chapman and Agent Christopher Aller were both dismissed from service due to violations of department policy. And, facing the same fate, Sgt. Terry Parsons announced his retirement effective today, September 2nd.

“If our guys would have followed the damn policy, we wouldn’t even have been there," Steen said.

Numerous other internal changes have been instituted within the TABC including the complete overhaul of the cultural diversity training program to make it more effective, especially with regard to sexual orientation.

The Fort Worth police had already announced their intention to cease all such joint operations with the TABC and have instituted numerous policy changes within their department as well. They have also appointed a special liason to the LGBT community and the TABC said they're going to do the same thing.

There is still a separate investigation into the use of force that caused a serious head injury to bar patron Chad Gibson. As soon as the results of that investigation are announced, I'll let you know.


Thanks to Box Turtle Bulletin and LezGetReal for some of the information in this article.

RESULTS OF ONE RAINBOW LOUNGE INVESTIGATION NOW IN

The highly anticipated results of one of the investigations into the Fort Worth, Texas Rainbow Lounge raid that resulted in the hospitalization of one patron with serious head injuries, were just released this past week.

The investigation was conducted by the internal affairs division of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). It found that two TABC agents and a supervising Sergeant committed a total on 19 policy violations while conducting their now infamous raid against the Rainbow Lounge.

According to the official media blog of the LGBT Dallas Voice, Agent Christopher Aller committed eight violations, Agent trainee Jason Chapman committed seven violations and Sgt. Terry Parsons committed four violations.

Violations committed by the two agents include participating in a joint operation with Fort Worth police without approval from a supervisor; failing to submit a complaint card against the Rainbow Lounge; conducting bar inspections in unapproved attire; failing to follow bar inspection procedures; failing to report the use of force and injuries involving Chad Gibson, a Rainbow Lounge patron who sustained serious head injuries; and disrupting business during a bar inspection.

The violations committed by Parsons, who was not at the scene of the raid and has since reportedly retired from the agency, involve failing to take appropriate action against Aller and Chapman; failing to ensure Aller and Chapman filed the necessary reports; and failing to notify the sergeant’s supervisors of the raid.

Disciplinary action is pending because the three TABC employees have the right to file a written response to the report within five working days.

Fortunately, their problems won't end there because the TABC is also conducting a second investigation (still underway) into the use of force during the raid. It will take into account statements by TABC employees, Fort Worth police officers, other eyewitnesses and specialized expert witnesses. Because of the complexity and seriousness of this kind of investigation and because the force that was used resulted in serious head injuries for patron Chad Gibson, it will take longer to complete.

The Dallas Voice blog posted a verbatim copy of the actual report. If you want to check that out, go to: Dallas Voice

Thanks to the immediate and overwhelming response from the Ft. Worth community and the LGBT community throughout the country and around the world, this was one police harassment incident that was impossible to sweep under the rug. And yes, some of them did try to do just that in the very beginning - before the worldwide media descended on them.

Of course, I'll keep you posted as soon as the results from the second investigation are released.

MORE INJURIES REPORTED FROM FT WORTH GAY BAR RAID

In an excellent, in-depth piece in Saturday's edition of the New York Times, James McKinley Jr reported that in addition to Chad Gibson's serious head injury, another patron of the Rainbow Lounge raid suffered broken ribs and a third had a broken thumb.

Also, according to a Box Turtle Bulletin post today, another man, George Armstrong, suffered severe bruising and muscle strain when he was arrested on the tenuously ambiguous charge of public intoxication even though he claimed that he was not drunk.

In a telephone interview with the Dallas Voice Armstrong said that he had gotten to the bar about 12:45 a.m. and had only been there about 30 minutes when Fort Worth officers and TABC agents swept in and began arresting people.

"I looked up and there was this swarm of police coming in.

I saw them making their way through the crowd, and I just kind of smiled at one of the officers and flashed him a ‘peace’ sign,” he added. “The next thing I know, he was coming at me. He tackled me to the ground, twisted my arms up really hard behind my back. I just kept saying, ‘What is wrong? Why are you doing this? Why are you touching me?’”

Armstrong said the officer told him he was being arrested for public intoxication, then took him outside and had him sit on the sidewalk until he was placed in the nearby van and taken to the police station. Officers outside, he said, “apparently found it really humorous. There was a lot of smirking and smiling going on.”

“When the guy tackled me in the bar, I landed on my shoulder. My shoulder and back took all the force of the fall. I was lucky that I didn’t hit my head like [Gibson] did. But I was hurt. I was in a lot of pain,” Armstrong said. “I told them at the police station that I was really hurt, but they just ignored me.”

After pleading not guilty before a judge, Armstrong was released around noon and drove straight to the emergency room at Baylor All-Saints Hospital where doctors treated him for severe bruising and muscle strain in his shoulder and back.

Since the incident occurred, Ft Worth Police Chief Jeffrey W. Halstead has backed off his initial support of the officers involved and has suspended joint operations with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). Under intense public and political pressure, he has also ordered a full police department investigation and promised to give police officers “multicultural training.”

Also, the Dallas/Ft Worth Television News has reported that the TABC has instituted it's own internal investigation of the incident and has reassigned the two TABC agents involved to desk duty pending the outcome of the investigation.

The incident has had wide coverage in the mainstream media and several demonstrations have already taken place - with more planned. There have also been calls from GLBT activists and state and local politicians for broader, outside investigations of the TABC and Ft Worth Police Department actions.

BTW - Chad Gibson remains at JPS Hospital but his family said he is improving and his condition was upgraded from serious to fair. His doctors have said however, that he will still suffer from severe, recurring headaches for at least the next couple of years.

UPDATE 7/8/09...
365.com reported that Chad Gibson was released from the hospital and is now at home.

The police are still trying to claim that Gibson feel to the ground causing his head injury but multiple eyewitnesses continue to refute that saying that Gibson was slammed into the wall and then down to the floor by out of control police officers.

In an interview following his release, Gibson also denied the police claim that he grabbed at the crotch of one of the officers. He was backed up by other eyewitnesses who said that neither he nor anyone else grabbed at anyone's crotch.

Several investigations are being conducted but however it turns out, it won't change that fact that Gibson will most likely suffer from severe recurring headaches from that incident for several years to come.

UPDATE ON FT WORTH GAY BAR RAID

Chad Gibson's mother spoke out about her son's injuries and the incident at the Rainbow Lounge to Dallas' Channel 8 news. Here's the piece that ran yesteday...

Also, on Instant Tea, which is the official weblog of the Dallas Voice, reporter Tammye Nash posted the following comment yesterday:

I just had a phone conversation with a source close to Chad Gibson’s family. I was told that yes, the bleeding has stopped, but that he has been having severe headaches today.

And just a note about Instant Tea poster “Pro Police”: I don’t know who this person is, or what his/her source of information is. I do know that people are not kept in the hospital in ICU for four days for a simple concussion. And I am pretty sure that the doctors at JPS Hospital are in a much better position to determine the extent of Chad Gibson’s injury.

For those who may think that Chad was, as the police claimed, suffering from alcohol poisoning, the Dallas/Ft Worth Channel 11 News ran an article yesterday that quoted Chad's sister Kristy Morgan's answer to that question. She said that "her brother's alcohol level was at .2 [and that] .08 is the legal limit. He was at .2. You have to be at .4 to have true alcohol poisoning and he was not close to that."

Although Chad was intoxicated, he certainly wasn't even close to the level of alcohol poisoning. He was also with a group who had a designated driver who would take them home which showed a great deal of personal responsibility on their part.

What makes no sense to me is why was anyone arrested for "public intoxication" when they were inside a bar and not creating any kind of "public nuisance" outside?

I suppose it's only a matter of time before people start getting arrested inside restaurants for contributing to the problem of "public obesity!"

I am aware that an overwhelming majority of police officers are good, law-abiding citizens who have very difficult and very dangerous jobs to do everyday. But there is clearly something seriously wrong with some of our country's law enforcement officials and if something isn't done soon and those individuals are allowed to continue with callous and illegal tactics that show others how easy it is to get away with, we WILL end up with a Third Reich style police force.

FT WORTH GAY BAR RAIDED ON STONEWALL ANNIVERSARY

At approximately 1:00 am on June 28th, the Ft Worth Police department along with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) entered the Rainbow Lounge, a new gay bar open only a few weeks, to supposedly conduct a "routine" alcohol beverage code inspection.

These inspections have been done before but they were always handled in a low-key manor. A couple of police would come in, look around and then ask the owner or bartender a few questions before filling out their forms. If there was no overly loud music and no fights or loud arguments going on and no one was making out in the bathrooms, they simply left without incident. This one however, turned out to be anything but routine.

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Witnesses say that police arrived at the nightclub about 1 a.m. Sunday and arrested seven people and that one of those arrested suffered a fractured skull during the takedown and is at a Fort Worth hospital.

That person is Chad Gibson who was knocked unconscious and is in serious condition with an injury that has caused bleeding on his brain. This may very well require delicate and dangerous brain surgery to alleviate.

In their written report, the police claimed that Gibson was "resisting arrest" and had to be “placed on the ground to control and apprehend him.” But The general manager of the Rainbow Lounge and several patrons disputed the police account, saying officers used excessive force to make arrests.

Chris Hightower of Fort Worth, a friend of Gibson who was with him that night, said:

"He was just walking to the bathroom when an officer grabbed him and shoved him against a wall and pulled his head back. He was then thrown to the ground and three other officers were on him."

The police report also claimed that many of the patrons verbally harrassed them and one patron even assaulted a TABC agent by grabbing his groin while another made “sexually explicit movements towards another officer.”

To counter those claims, the GLBT publication Dallas Voice reported:

Rainbow Lounge owner J.R. Schrock said claims that patrons made sexual advances to the officers and that one patron groped an officer were lies.

“The groping of the police officer — really? We’re gay, but we’re not dumb,” Schrock said to the crowd that gathered at the bar Sunday afternoon [for a demonstration against the incident]. “That is a lie, and I am appalled by it."

Other eyewitness accounts said that the police were very loud and abrasive as they moved through the lounge, clearly trying to intimidate the patrons.

Having lived through the era of having only mafia owned gay bars to go to and then having to deal with indiscriminate police raids, I find this incident to be doubly appalling. First, because it even happened at all and second, because they chose to do it on the anniversary of the Stonewall riots which, I'm absolutely sure, could not have been an "accident" or "coincidence."

I'm hoping that the officers and supervisors involved in this overtly homophobic raid don't just get a slap-on-the-wrist reprimand but are suspended without pay and/or outright fired. This is not something that should be happening in a large metropolitan city, or anywhere else for that matter, in 2009.

UPDATE...
Unfortunately I just learned that the Dallas Voice just published a report that said:

Senior Editor Tammye Nash is just now leaving the hospital in Fort Worth where she spoke with Chad Gibson’s family. Gibson is in intensive care after reportedly suffering head trauma when he was thrown to the ground by police early Sunday during a raid of the Rainbow Lounge. Nash said she visited with Gibson’s mother and his sister this morning, and they told her that his condition has worsened. Gibson reportedly has a brain bleed — also known as intracerebral hemorraghing — and the clot inside his skull has gotten larger and shifted, which is a bad sign. Gibson is scheduled for another CT scan at 10 a.m. today. After that, doctors will decide whether the clot can be shrunk with medication or whether they need to perform surgery. Stay tuned, and keep Gibson in your thoughts and prayers.

I now amend my last comment to say that I hope that the subhuman, homophobic police who are responsible for Chad's injuries be given the maximum penalties possible under the law. They could not have been operating under any kind of "approved" police procedures and should be held criminally responsible!