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Friday, July 3, 2009

Homo / News Fort Worth: Mayor Calls for Federal Investigation

Posted by Dan Savage on Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 12:04 PM

After initially defending "his" officers—and in the most offensive possible way—the chief of police in Fort Worth now says that Chad Gibson, who he accused of groping an officer, wasn't in the custody of the FWPD when he was seriously injured, but in the custody of officers from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The FWPD and the TABC have both announced independent investigations into the raid on the Rainbow Lounge—and now the mayor of Fort Worth is calling on the feds to investigate:

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief called on federal prosecutors Friday to look into last week’s bar raid that resulted in a serious head injury to one patron.

Parallel investigations—one by Fort Worth police and another within the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission—are already under way into what happened Sunday at the Rainbow Lounge.

And, police chief Jeff Halstead has announced the indefinite suspension of bar checks conducted jointly by his department and TABC.

Sounds like Fort Worth is trying to throw TABC under the bus. Let's wait and see what the feds find out.

UPDATE: The mayor isn't calling for a federal investigation, as the report above suggests. The mayor's is calling on the feds to review the investigations currently being conducted by the FWPD and TABC once they're completed. Not sure what that accomplishes. Full text of the mayor's statement after the jump.

For Immediate Release: July 3, 2009

Fort Worth Mayor asks acting U.S. Attorney to review Rainbow Lounge investigation

Mayor Mike Moncrief released the following statement today:

We all join in wishing Mr. Gibson a speedy and full recovery.

Currently, two investigations are underway to review the circumstances and events that took place at the Rainbow Lounge early Sunday morning. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) is conducting an investigation and the Fort Worth Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division is conducting its own investigation.

I join Police Chief Jeff Halstead in encouraging any eye-witnesses to the events under review to come forward and share their observations.

Members of the City Council and I have confidence that Chief Halstead is leading a thorough and professional investigation. Once the Fort Worth Police Department’s examination is complete, I have asked the acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, James T. Jacks, to independently review the findings of the Fort Worth Police Department’s investigation to ensure the department has thoroughly and impartially carried out its obligation to all the citizens of Fort Worth. I encourage the TABC to follow the same course.

Fort Worth has a history of inclusiveness, and the Fort Worth Police Department has a history of responsible and professional service to our citizens. The police department’s internal investigation and the outside review is meant to ensure all citizens are professionally and responsibly represented by our police department. I am most appreciative to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for assisting us in this effort.

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A good friend of mine who lives in Fort Worth and her take on it is what I also am thinking - 40th anniversary of Stonewall - Let's go bash some heads...She was @ the 1 am vigil at the courthouse that followed the event of that evening and has been making waves so this would happen - Does this remind anyone when segregation was coming to an end in the US and the military - the idiots show up with their true colors blaring and will it take fire hoses and beatings for anyone to let our civil rights be given to us?.

Posted by gijo by the bay on July 3, 2009 at 12:30 PM

They are "his" officers, you idiot. Don't trash talk a mayor when your dumb, faggoty ass can't even bother to file the paperwork to run for the fucking office. Sometimes it's cooler to be an analytical intellectual instead of a knee-jerk faggot liberal.

Posted by Savage, stay off of TV, you're an old, ugly faggot on July 3, 2009 at 12:42 PM

Notice how the Mayor didn't even mention that this was about the gays.

Posted by BombasticMO

on July 3, 2009 at 12:44 PM

I think comment 2 violates the terms of use of slog comments board. Please remove it. If not, said terms should be revised.

Thanks,

Posted by olechka on July 3, 2009 at 1:04 PM

@4, um, no, it doesn't. But your fucking dumb-shit Nazi attitude might.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on July 3, 2009 at 1:22 PM

Gahd, @2 is an asshole.

I am someone cheered by this as I was one of the Sloggers to e-mail the mayor aout this. I received a very polite reply, too - maybe because I sais that the next time I visit my Texas relatives I'd do it in Dallas instead of Fort Worth.

Posted by Schweighsr on July 3, 2009 at 2:15 PM

Savage is still a dumb faggot. I pity his child. Someone should call child services and let them know that Dan Savage is a perverted freak!

Posted by You are an ugly, ugly gay man Dan Savage on July 3, 2009 at 4:00 PM

@4:

5280 is correct.

You need to learn to ignore trolls like @2 and @7.

This particular troll exhibits all the characteristics of someone who got caught masturbating by his sister and has yet to overcome the trauma of that experience.

Pity it. But don't censor it.

Posted by Mark in Colorado on July 3, 2009 at 5:41 PM

Living in Milwaukee in the late 80s and throughout the 90s, raids on gay bars were commonplace. The cops barged in unscheduled, locked the doors, and checked IDs. Nobody ever touched, groped, or even hassled a cop, even though we knew the raids were bullshit. It was common knowledge that gay bar owners paid protection money to cops to keep the raids to a minimum, even as underage girls danced on radiators in the straight biker bar across the street.

You just can't trust cops. Any position with such a potential for abuse is untrustworthy.

Posted by John Kusch on July 4, 2009 at 6:18 AM

Telegraphing to the PD that the Feds will be reviewing their investigation could be of some help in keeping the PD's investigation honest. It's like knowing that your neighbors will tell your parents if you have a party while they're away.

Posted by paprikapink on July 4, 2009 at 8:35 AM

It's a political move to establish accountability, as if to say, "See, we're so sure we're doing the right thing that we're even going to have the Feds check our work."

Posted by Gomez

on July 4, 2009 at 12:10 PM

TEXAS WOULD NOT DARE TO ATTACK JEWISH PATRONS IN A JEWISH LOUNGE, BUT GAYS ...?

Replace the label GAY with the label JEW and the entire western world would be in an uproar. One Jewish organization after another would threaten a boycott of Dallas/Fort Worth as conference centers for professional organizations (physicians, lawyers, teachers, librarians, etc.).

And what do we get? No apology from the police chief and a lecture from the local newspaper, the fairly influential FW Star Telegram. By throwing in a few crumbs, the Public Relations Dept. knows only too well that time will probably work in their favor with gay people being grateful that a little education program may get started some time in the future, and then it’s back to a subtler form of homophobia.

The local press has much to answer for. Imagine the following editorial in the Star Telegram:

“The Police Department informed THE STAR OF DAVID Lounge management in advance that an inspection would take place the night of PASSOVER. Why didn’t the managers educate the officers about the date’s significance? That’s need-to-know information for uniformed law enforcement officers showing up at a JEWISH bar on that date.

It’s also need-to-know for any JEWISH bar patron that laying a hand on a police officer will result in a quick trip to jail.

Drinking to the point of intoxication is a crime even in a bar. Officers tasked with enforcing alcohol laws must make sure local and state statutes are observed regardless of the date on the calendar, PASSOVER OR NO PASSOVER. The residents of Fort Worth who share the streets with bar patrons throughout the city expect as much.

Law enforcement officers also must follow agency procedures to make sure inspections are conducted professionally and legally.

Why would a police supervisor, six officers and two TABC agents knowingly risk their own careers, the reputations of their departments and a public relations nightmare WITH THE JEWISH COMMUNITY by engaging in targeted or overly aggressive enforcement against a RELIGIOUS minority group? We’re not sure they would, but as we said, there are more questions than answers at this point.”

Excuse me while I go throw up my breakfast–INDEED.

For the original editorial from the Star Ledger, identical with mine, except for the Jewish references, courtesy of Mark Reed, posted on July 3rd, 2009 at 7:27 am, click here:

http://www.dallasvoice.com/instant-tea/2…

More...

Posted by Socrates on July 5, 2009 at 12:59 PM

What happened to the US Attorney General's Office? I thought they were doing their own investigation as well. If not, they need to be - it makes the investigation outside the "good ol' boy" network and might actually get to the bottom of things.

Posted by jtidfold on July 10, 2009 at 3:45 PM