Community | February 26, 2010 | 76 comments

Cop Walks Into a Bar And...Arrests You. For Having a Drink.

source: http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/texas-racist-laws-drinking-while-brown

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LATE ON A BALMY Saturday night last June, six Fort Worth cops and two officers from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission went looking for trouble. They had just raided two Hispanic bars in an industrial stretch of town and nine detainees now sat in the paddy wagon (pdf), hands bound with plastic ties. The rest of the city's bars would soon shut down. It seemed like the night was over, except for the paperwork. Then Sergeant Richard Morris had an idea. "Hey," he said. "Let's go to the Rainbow Lounge."

A half-dozen police cruisers, an unmarked sedan, and the prisoner van slid to a stop in front of the Rainbow Lounge, Fort Worth's newest gay club, at about 1:30 a.m. on June 28, 2009—40 years, almost down to the minute, after New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn with billy clubs and bullhorns. Inside the bar, the officers fanned out, grabbing and arresting six patrons for public intoxication. Benjamin Guttery, a 24-year-old Army vet, says an officer told him to put down his drink, then "bulldozed" him through the crowd to the paddy wagon but then let him go. "I'm 6'8", 250 pounds, and I had just finished my second drink," Guttery told a local reporter. "I might have had enough to have a loose tongue, but not a loose walk or anything like that." Another man alleges that he was slammed against a wall, elbowed, and fell on the ground, landing him in intensive care for a week with bleeding in his brain. He was charged with public intoxication and assault.

They say everything's bigger in Texas, and that includes absurdity in law enforcement. Most states and towns have public intoxication laws that allow peace officers to pick up the drunk and disorderly. But in the Lone Star State, the nation's broadest PI law lets cops go virtually anywhere and arrest anyone for drunkenness—even if they're quietly nursing a beer in a bar.

Arrested for drinking in a bar? Sounds like the ultimate catch-22. Since 2006, when Texas overtook California as the state with the most drunk-driving fatalities, cops and a beefed-up task force from the state Alcoholic Beverage Commission have used a 1993 law as a pretext to enter any bar and arrest its patrons on the spot. The public intoxication standard, backed by the Texas-based Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is so broad that you can be arrested on just a police officer's hunch, without being given a Breathalyzer or field sobriety test. State courts have not only upheld the practice but expanded the definition of public intoxication to cover pretty much any situation, says Robert Guest, a criminal defense attorney in Dallas. "Having no standard allows the police to arrest whoever pisses them off and call it PI," he says, adding, "If you have a violent, homophobic, or just an asshole of a cop and you give him the arbitrary power to arrest anyone for PI, you can expect violent, homophobic, and asshole-ic behavior."

For some officers, PI has provided a ready-made reason for detaining minorities. A Houston defense attorney, who asks to be unnamed since he specializes in misdemeanors such as PI, puts it this way: "If you're brown and you're around—you're going down." Nick Novello, a 27-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department, blew the whistle on three colleagues who he claims filled their arrest quotas by picking up people, mostly minorities, for PI. "They were illegally arrested," Novello says. "It's an absolute perversion." (Two were removed from the force.)



http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/texas-racist-laws-drinking-while-brown
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76 comments // Cop Walks Into a Bar And...Arrests You. For Having a Drink.

  • stevieuk
  • MoonLoon
    • 0
      MoonLoon  

    • I would like to add that Louisiana Troopers have been very fair and generous with me. I have been stopped 3 times, over 30 years, while drinking/driving and released with only a verbal admonition, after passing the field sobriety test. Trooper Robichaux, out of Iota, LA was particulary kind, as was a trooper from Baton Rouge in 1995, I have forgotten his name. I will also commmend Officer Steinhagen from Stafford TX, for his kind apologies following my arrest and abuse by Deputy Beckworth, in Texas. Also, thanks to Victor, my Hispanic friend, the busboy at Sam's Boat that mopped the blood from my face, while he was crying. As you all can see, there are more good people than bad. Even Beckworth may not be bad. However, he is not suited for police work.
      Here is a note of warning when involved w/police. They entered the wrong mailing address on my arrest report and then refused me a copy when being discharged. A mistake, H'mmm, I think not. Subsequent court dates were sent to the wrong address, so I had more legal problems to straighten this out.
      I can appreciate this experience, as it has caused me to be more understanding of issues regarding abuse by policemen to minorities or other powerless people. However, we are all only one step away from being in the hands of brutes.

    • 2 years ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  

    • It appears we haven't moved as far ahead as a nation as we like to think we have.

      This is 1950's shit, raiding gay and ethnic bars. What the fuck is going on in this country?

    • 2 years ago
  • 2hellnwait
    • +1
      2hellnwait  

    • There is no win-win in a confrontation with cops.

      The only way you 'might' not get jammed up when confronted with cops is to keep your mouth shut. . . which 'may' prevent them from using what you said as "threatening a peace officer" (one of the classic excuses) as their justification for force and arrest.

    • 2 years ago
  • bethopea
    • 0
      bethopea  
    • 2hellnwait:

      It really depends on the cop...and who the 'peace officer' is with.

      One time I got stopped on the way into a club. I was not doing anything but waling from my car, about a block away from the club 2 cops rolled by in their car and harrassed us for nothing - we had to stand on the street corner doing lame tests for inebriation - mind you we were ENTERING the club, not exiting.
      Another instance I was pulled over for speeding. It would have been considered reckless driving due to the speed but the cop was cool and told me
      'if you like driving fast, you should be a cop'

      I'll never forget that.

    • 2 years ago
  • cracanata
  • trut
    • 0
      trut  

    • You guys have the guns down in Texas, why not use them before it's too late? Are you going to wait until you are disarmed and forced into ghettos? No jury would convict if the police were out of hand. Protect the People!

    • 2 years ago
  • vicgal
    • +1
      vicgal  
    • trut:

      that has to be the dumbest statement i've ever heard... "No jury would convict if the police were out of hand." if still alive... yes they would. in any state never mind TX.

    • 2 years ago
  • trut
  • trut
  • kurthsb27
  • MoonLoon
    • +1
      MoonLoon  

    • December 11, 2001, I was drinking a glass of wine at Sam's Boat, 59 South, West Houston, watching LSU and Tennesee play football. A 50 year old man (Me) just off of two major knee surgeries, both legs. Another bar patron attempted to fight with me while I held his arms down imploring him to cool down. His friend then stepped in and I had two idiots to deal with. Security, as provided by Richmond deputies, rushed in, threw my ass to the ground, causing a three inch gash to my left eyebrow, with a massive amount of bleeding, while handcuffing me in front of friends and business associates. After discussing with the witnesses and bar manager, they realized that I was a victim , not the aggressor. This was after 6 police vehicles were called to the location to settle me down.Their solution? I was charged with public intoxication, even though they refused me a breath test. Charges were dropped after I got an attorney and demanded a jury trial. Yet I still spent 4 hours in the cell. Officer Beckworth, is still working and fnucking over innocent people. When I threatened to have them all drug tested for steroids, the wind shifted. The only decent officer was a BIG Hispanic Sargent, that slammed me against the wall, then implored me to calm down and let him get me released, which he did. I suggest that being trapped in the system is not a good idea. I , also, hope that there is at least one decent deputy from Houston reading my comments. Otherwise, the corrupt element in law enforcement has damaged all.

    • 2 years ago
  • cynker
  • kurthsb27
  • Sw3rv
    • 0
      Sw3rv  

    • This BS goes down in VA as well ....i wont go into detail right now but cops always get away with whooping your ass and when you fight back please believe u will be charged with assault on an officer

    • 2 years ago
  • KSirys
  • MoonLoon
    • 0
      MoonLoon  
    • Sw3rv:

      They will handcuff you in the back of the car, then whip your ass, while charging you with assault on an officer. I know this because I was threatened with the same punishment. They only backed off when I told them to go ahead and beat me. I would let my attorney settle them! These are no good fnuckers, small men, parading around in uniforms, playing like super heroes. This happened to a white upper middle class man with no criminal record, what do you think happens to others?

    • 2 years ago
  • Sw3rv
  • remanns
  • remanns
  • remanns
  • dalistuff
  • kurthsb27
  • Darevalo
  • kurthsb27
  • Darevalo
  • Fordymo
    • 0
      Fordymo  

    • Gee-whiz, it's not like those people were smoking weed, in which case the police's actions would have been justifiable.

    • 2 years ago
  • trueforyou
  • roryd00d
  • ryan8566
    • +5
      ryan8566  
    • roryd00d:

      'hispanic bar'...'gay bar'? guess they had already inspected all of the upscale white bars
      and found everything OK? i assume both of these communities, and their supporters, will take to the streets this weekend, in civil protest, and in a show of voting power.

    • 2 years ago
  • ryan8566
    • +7
      ryan8566  
    • roryd00d:

      while i know little about texas law, i know a lot about out of control cops. back in the 80's,
      Massachusetts removed 'public intoxication' from the books as a crime (recognizing alcoholism as a disease), and replaced it with a 'protective custody' policy which orders police officers to decide if an intoxicated person is a 'danger to themself or others', and then must drive them home, or put them in custody until sober, and then released. no crime-no record. this policy has had no problems for 20 years.

    • 2 years ago
  • KSirys
  • remanns
  • remanns
  • roryd00d
  • Almibry
    • +5
      Almibry  

    • I already said everything I could think of about police BS in a post about the 61 year old woman being arrested for asking "why?" so I'll just copy and paste. Forgive any incongruities, since it wasn't written specifically for this piece but it still fits for the most part.
      "I can't speak for the rest of the US but in central Florida, in the Polk/Orange/Osceola county area, the police want to arrest you. I was arrested for refusing to sit at the request of an officer (I was 15 at the time). I see officers breaking the speed limit all the time without using their lights or sirens. My sister almost got T-boned by one of these speeding cops who didn't stop at a stop sign and one of the people on Florida's most wanted is wanted for violation of probation! They didn't put any murderers or rapists in that spot but violation of probation.
      The system sucks and that's nothing new. Nobody likes to be mistreated by people they're supposed to be able to trust, and that's not new. And that fact that nobody's doing anything other than suggest the purchase of weapons is nothing new, so unless someone is going to organize a coup, what's the purpose of any of this bickering? To make a moot point?
      There are no real standards for police to citizen ratios, but the average for 2008 was 1.6 for every 1k, but in Orlando (2009), there was only 1 for every 2k and they've since had their budgets cut so I can't imagine that the police would be the main enforcers of martial law here. If you're really so worried about it, you wouldn't even need guns, just get about half the city to show up outside of the police department and get the stupid people to go first.
      Who knows, maybe the police are just ansy because they realize that scenario isn't so far fetched after all."

    • 2 years ago
  • cmd80
    • +2
      cmd80  
    • Almibry:

      I like the way you think and it is totally true. If the mass would ever gather in resistance against the police dept./government, there would be no way the could stop us, much less contain us. The problem though, is that it would be so difficult to get people to organize and band together to do something like this. Most people are brainwashed into believing that the cops are right and the public shouldn't go against them.

      Well, I am definitely not one of those people
      Revolution for the right cause

    • 2 years ago
  • trueforyou
    • +1
      trueforyou  
    • cmd80:

      Unfortunately, it's not quite like getting everyone in 5th period to all skip class so that no one gets in trouble. The crackdown would come so hard and fast, the national guard would be setting up checkpoints in no time.

    • 2 years ago
  • cmd80
    • +1
      cmd80  
    • trueforyou:

      That's considering the national guard, which is made up from people of that area, would react against it's own people. There are about 300,000 people in the city where I live. Even if only a fraction of those people would rise up there would be little that the gov. could do except shoot to kill, and that would only cause more people to retaliate. Kind of like the riots that have taken place in the past. But to be honest with you, and I'm not trying to incite violence, those people would need to be packing guns, that is the only way to ensure a revolutional change.

    • 2 years ago
  • remanns
  • remanns
  • cmd80
    • +1
      cmd80  
    • remanns:

      No, that is peanuts compared to a whole population standing against the authorities. It's not a group, it's not a faction, it's not a political movement, it's not a religious sect, it's the WHOLE population. Everyone fed up with how we are treated and decides to do something about it. No talking, just action.

    • 2 years ago
  • kilo88
  • irie_ojo
  • Aldebaran
  • cmd80
    • +2
      cmd80  

    • That's f'n crazy! What the hell do you expect to find at a bar?!? It's not a church gathering, it's a place that sells alcohol! This is a case of extreme abuse of power by cops who want to carry out their own perverted view of the law.

      Damn the man
      and fix me a double bourbon and coke, bartender

    • 2 years ago
  • Almibry
  • MindsiMedia
  • bailey78
  • remanns
  • unimatrix0
  • bailey78
  • cmd80
    • +4
      cmd80  
    • unimatrix0:

      Whatcha mean "what is it with the American South?" The whole world is crazy if you haven't noticed yet. Are you insinuating that something is wrong with southern people? Don't stereotype a whole region because a bunch of jackass cops. I'm sure, wherever you live, there are people who are just as messed up, if not worse.

    • 2 years ago
  • onemalefla
  • cmd80
    • +2
      cmd80  
    • onemalefla:

      From my own personal experience :-) hee hee, cops are pricks wherever you are!

      Now as for the bigotry against the south, it's pure ignorance. I don't bite my tongue to people who stereotype us, it's just not in my nature. I'm Cajun and proud of my southern heritage and if people don't like it or choose to make assumptions and/or rude comments, then they can kiss my ass. I, personally, don't judge people by their location, race, creed, ethnic background, sex, age, political views, and so on. I judge people by their character. In my book, someone who is quick to stereotype another, shows that they are ignorant and are probably an asshole.

      But that's just my opinion
      I could be wrong

    • 2 years ago
  • remanns
  • bailey78
  • MoonLoon
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • MoonLoon:

      Um the bread is on the counter next to the spice rack the jelly is over by the HEEEEY what do you want with the jelly an bread? If you didn't eat my peanut butter.

    • 2 years ago
  • remanns
  • bailey78
  • remanns
    • 0
      remanns  
    • bailey78:

      WET! Wet and cold,...then just cold,..then wet; heavy on the wet. Hell,...we even had a reasonable amount of snow that stuck around for a few days. Traffic went nuts,....people in this part O the world get spastic-freaky-nuts when they try to drive in frozen shit!
      Stick to the coast,....seems safer,........ except for that hurricane action that pops up.

      The cops,.......well,...everywhere,........(except apparently on frozen streets when folk are going spastic-freaky-nuts.

    • 2 years ago
  • kurthsb27
    • 0
      kurthsb27  
    • unimatrix0:

      so how many times you been to texas? what makes you a fucking expert on how people here live there life. go a head and make your fucking views based on stories from the internet nevermind that real people live here besides the crazy ones. and whats up with the north rednecks there just as fucking racist and crazy as the souths but the north still thinks there better for some reason.

    • 2 years ago
  • kurthsb27
  • remanns
    • 0
      remanns  
    • kurthsb27:

      It does get old. Unfortunately the "bible belter intelligent designers" n such who tend to run Texas gubment keep giving folks in other states ammunition for our ridicule.
      On the other hand,...it may be similar to how Europeans think about yokel America.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • remanns:

      Hey I know a little about snow & ice worked up in W.V. for a year or so. The storms now thats another story. We have not had one here in a few years. Even then it was a minor one. Oh yea! Found my peanut butter the wife had it she was makeing cookies YUM ;-) Well I will talk at ya later try not to get on the road with the spastic-freaky-nuts if you don't have to and remember it don't cost a thing to stay warm snuggled up next to the Ol'lady.

    • 2 years ago
  • onemalefla
  • bailey78
  • Bushido
  • remanns
  • Animal_Chin
    • 0
      Animal_Chin  

    • No wonder why people everywhere are rebelling... It's the only sensible thing left to do. Animals have more rights than most people living in the United States these days...

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
  • Eddie_Miller
  • bailey78
  • CalPal
  • bailey78
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