Grand jury probe focuses on Captain Aguirre

Captian Mark Aguirre and an unnamed sergeant are the apparent targets of the grand jury investigation of the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup.

"After reviewing all the evidence, my impression is that Aguirre and one other sergeant who is his right-hand man are the targets of this probe," said Clint Greenwood, who is representing Lt. Frank Jackson. Greenwood would not identify the sergeant.

Frank Jackson was the architect of the raid, which was put together at Aguirre's request. If his lawyer is to be believed, he did not envision what happened:

The manner in which the sweep occurred was drastically different from Jackson's plan, Greenwood said. For example, Jackson's plan only called for four passenger vans to transport those arrested, which never would have held the 270 people.

"My client is probably the person with the best overview of what happened from beginning to end," Greenwood said. "He was there from May, when Aguirre hatched the idea, until they took down the crime scene tape in the parking lot."

Jackson has willingly cooperated with the district attorney's office and the police Internal Affairs Division because he has no criminal liability for the incident, Greenwood said. The night of the raid Jackson distributed ticket books and pens and did not make any arrests.

"My client drew up the plan that was approved all the way up to the top," Greenwood said. "Other than that, he did what Aguirre told him to do."

Very interesting. How did all those people wind up getting arrested if the plan only called for four transport vans? Why was Lt. Jackson not making arrests? Was he disobeying orders or were the other officers disobeying them? Or were the orders not clearly communicated to all officers present? I want to know more.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 21, 2002 to K-Mart Kiddie Roundup | TrackBack