FeAtURes

By DaviD T. López physical distress. DeBakey identified ton in the 1970s1 presaged the current demonstrations of frustration and anger against law enforcement agencies. Questions persist. Does ethnicity or race affect how individuals are treated by police? If there is a systemic problem, can it be effectively addressed through the laws? On August 29, 1975, a going-away party was held for a University of Houston doctoral student. Attending were about 60 present and former university students. They included lawyers and several activists of La Raza Unida Party, some of whom had been candidates for local and statewide office. The party was held at a private residence in the near East Side, not far from the university. As the party was ending, Elliott Navarro and his soon-to-be-spouse got into an argument on the street outside the party. A Houston Police unit patrolling the neighborhood stopped to investigate. The two police officers were told it was just a disagreement, but offered to drive Navarro’s girlfriend home. When Navarro protested, the police angrily attacked him. The party was breaking up, and Daniel Bustamante, a host, saw the police with Navarro. Bustamante asked Douglas DeBakey, licensed the previous year and the only lawyer left at the party, to go with him to check the situation. Eduardo Canales and Fred Garza, Bustamante’s friends and fellow political activists, followed Bustamante and DeBakey. The four men found Navarro groaning in himself to the police as a lawyer and attempted to get information. One of the Houston Policing: police officers drew his revolver and pointed it at Bustamante, Canales, and Lessons from Garza, ordering them away. As he was walking toward the sidewalk, Bustamante was struck on the head with a flashlight, and he turned to see Canales and Garza also being beaten. Another police

Joe Campos torres was a veteran of the vietnam War. the Past joined in the assault. Navarro, by that time, had been thrown to the ground, picked up, and put into a patrol car. About a dozen party guests witnessed

Police brutality incidents in Hous-

unit arrived, and two other police officers the incident, including Mrs. DeBakey and other women who were crying and loudly protesting. Bustamante, Canales, Garza, and DeBakey were arrested and charged with assault and interference with the police. Bustamante, his head, face, and shirt covered with blood, asked to be taken to a doctor, but he was taken to jail with the others. DeBakey’s family posted his bail bond. Bustamante, Canales, Garza, and Navarro spent the night in jail until the DeBakey family posted their bail in the morning. Charges eventually were dismissed in municipal court against all except Navarro, who entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge.

In October, 1976, Bustamante, Canales, Garza, and Navarro filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, Bustamante v. Hofheinz, 2 against the four police officers, the police chief, and the mayor. The plaintiffs’ claims against a federal agency that challenged the funding of police programs were dismissed because the issue had not been administratively presented. The remaining claims were set for trial.

During the pendency of the Bustamante suit, there was an occurrence so grievous that it drew considerable national attention. It happened in 1977 on May 5th, Cinco de Mayo, a date celebrated by Mexican-Americans with pride, and similar, but not yet quite as boisterous, as St. Patrick’s Day.

On that day, 23-year-old Jose “Joe” Campos Torres went to drink at a canti-

na. He was a veteran of the Vietnam War, who upon his return home had planned to open a karate school to teach Chicano kids how to defend themselves.

Torres got into an argument with the bar owner, and police were called. There might have been mention in the call about Torres’s defense skills because six police officers responded. They arrested Torres, handcuffed him, and drove him to a secluded spot bordering a bayou. It was a “hole,” one of several places used by police to get away for a quiet time.

One of the six officers, who only recently had joined the force, subsequently described in court testimony what occurred. The five other officers made a semi-circle around Torres and proceeded to curse and beat him. Throughout the attack, Torres remained handcuffed. They left him in such a poor physical condition that when Torres was taken to be booked and jailed, the Desk Sergeant would not accept him. He ordered that Torres be taken to Ben Taub Hospital for treatment.

Instead, Torres was returned to the “hole” for more abuse. His handcuffs were removed and he was spread-eagled on a patrol car. Seeking to be freed, Torres told the officers that he had served as an Army Ranger. To that, an officer responded, “Let’s see if this wetback can swim.”3 Torres was taken to the edge and pushed into the bayou, more than 20 feet below.

Torres drowned. His body was recovered three days later, on May 8th, and his family was informed.4 It was Mother’s Day.

The rookie was told to destroy his report of the incident, to shut up and not worry about it.5 Believing that Torres, although badly beaten, had survived, and fearing retaliation, he did not report the incident until the day after Torres was found dead. All six officers were then fired.

Two of the officers were indicted by a Harris County Grand Jury on charges of murder. One other officer was charged with misdemeanor assault. The other officers were granted immunity in exchange for their testimony at trial.

An all-White jury in a state district court convicted the officers on a reduced charge of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor, and the judge sentenced them to one-year probation and a fine of $1.00.

Public protests that the sentence was too lenient in which death results, is a felony with a maximum penalty of life in prison. The other, violation of civil rights by intimidation, a misdemeanor, has a maximum punishment of one year in jail and a fine

of up to $1,000. U.S. District Judge Ross N. Sterling issued a ten-year suspended sentence for the officers, but the sentences were appealed and overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Upon remand of the case, Judge Sterling imposed jail terms of one year and prison.6 With led to the credited time, U.S. Justice the three forDepartment mer officers conducting a were in prisfederal inves- the bayou location known as “the hole.” on for nine tigation. Three of the officers were in- months each. dicted and convicted of civil rights viola- The year after Torres’ death, the Latino tions. One count, violation of civil rights community had gathered at Moody Park one day in

for a Cinco de Mayo celebration. Recollections of Torres’s killing tempered the celebratory mood. A disturbance, so minor that the cause is now not recalled, led to police arriving, provoking an an-

gry reaction. There were yells of “Are you going to arrest us? Are you going to do us like Joe?” It culminated in rioting. A policeman was struck by a car and his leg was broken. One reporter was struck by a brick and another stabbed in the leg. Police cars were set afire. Shops were burned and looted.

While controversy still raged over the sentencing of the police who attacked trial. Presiding was Judge Sterling. The Latino plaintiffs presented evidence of their injuries. Most striking was a photograph of Navarro’s face as he lay on a lawful arrest because an officer had noticed a bulge on Navarro’s shirt and discovered a marijuana cigarette. They denied injuring the plaintiffs. As their main witness, the police defendants presented the youngest and newest officer. As in the Torres case, however, that officer candidly described a time when he had been instructed to lie to conceal misconduct by a fellow officer.

The jury returned a verdict against the police, awarding $15,000 in personal injury damages and $12,500 in punitive damages. After trial, jurors disclosed that at one time they had voted 5-1 to award plaintiffs the entire $50,000 damages that they had sought. Judge Sterling awarded the $25,000 sought by the plaintiffs as attorney’s fees. The police were defended by the Houston City Attorney’s Office, and the damages and attorney’s fees were paid by the City.

As soon as the jury and the judge exited the courtroom, the police officers began throwing and kicking the chairs at their counsel table.

In response to the Torres killing, then Houston Mayor Fred Hofheinz remarked, “There is something loose in this city that is an illness.”7 Soon after the discovery of Torres’s body, the City

implemented its first internal affairs division. Citizens’ review panels were later established, as was an ombudsman to assist in resolving claims of police mis-

Torres, the Bustamante case came up for

treatment. Today’s Chief of the Houston Police Department is a Latino. Is there more to be learned from events of more

the ground. On his head was imprinted stated in three letters—“BLM”8—in view the logo from the heel of a policeman’s boot. The mark evidently could not have been the result of a kick, but rather, of the officer’s stepping very firmly on his head for some time. The police defendants ‘‘ Most striking was a photograph of Navarro’s face as he of the extended public protests of George Floyd’s murder. Others could consider that as a valid, comparative lesson, but also could consider it to be deceptively superficial. It might not directly claimed that there had been lay on the ground. answer how mistreatthan 40 years ago? Some might say that the answer can be On his head was imprinted the logo

ment by police of minorities can be avoided.

Consider that Stephen from the heel of a policeman’s boot.”

Orlando, one of the two officers convicted in the Torres case, is the son of a

police detective and a police dispatcher, with two older brothers who served as Houston police officers. It would not be difficult to picture Orlando as someone who could share a friendly

beer with a former Army Ranger at an East Side cantina.

In different circumstances, would the policeman who bloodied Bustamante with a flashlight while pointing a revolver have attacked him if he had known Bustamante as a two-year law student dedicated to child welfare and treatment of drug abusers?

Looking back to 1975, we can ponder whether criminal or civil punishment of police for abusing minorities might avoid further problems. Or is this an area in which history repeats itself? Mexican-Americans in Houston still include remembrances of Joe Campos Torres in their celebrations of Cinco de Mayo. Perhaps the entire community could join the observance at least for the day.

In 1867, observing the restoration of the Mexican Republic, following the defeat of French troops on Cinco de Mayo, Benito Juarez, President of México, declared, “Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz” [Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others means peace].

David T. López, a former journalist, civil rights litigator and now domestic and international arbitrator and mediator, was the plaintiffs’ attorney in the Bustamante case.

endnotes

1. The facts of the cases discussed in this article are from the author’s recollection as a practitioner during this time period and a lawyer on the Bustamante case. 2. The trial in Bustamante v. Hofheinz, Civil Action No. 76-H-1771, was on June 27–29, 1979, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, U.S.

District Judge Ross N. Sterling presiding. The case documents are on file with the author. 3. Houston Policeman Testifies Against Colleagues in Chicano’s Slayings, N.Y. TIMES, Sept. 19, 1977, https:// www.nytimes.com/1977/09/19/archives/houstonpoliceman-testifies-against-colleagues-in-chicanosslaying.html. 4. Id. 5. Id. 6. Billy Curry, 1-Year Sentences Imposed in Houston Brutality Case, WASH. POST, Oct 31, 1979, https://www. washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/10/31/1year-sentences-imposed-in-houston-brutalitycase/26bd9c2f-ff7b-4228-9e31-cbe7c8284187/ 7. Tom Curtis, Police in Houston Pictured as Brutal and

Unchecked, WASH. POST, June 13, 1977, https://www. washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/06/13/ police-in-houston-pictured-as-brutal-andunchecked/bacdbded-3265-4e79-ac5a48ed6e47ad23/. 8. BLACK LIVES MATTER, https://blacklivesmatter.com/.

Enhance Your Practice Try the HBA advantage.