Category Archives: K-Mart Kiddie Roundup

Now that a judge has unceremoniously tossed the perjury charge against Chief C.O. “BAMF” Bradford, the dogs are howling about the District Attorney’s lack of judgment: “I bet if you spent the rest of your days looking for a lawyer … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Along with the story about the directed verdict of “not guilty” in his perjury trial, the Chron has a short interview with Police Chief C.O. “BAMF” Bradford. Nothing much of great interest, though it’s pretty clear that he plans to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Houston Police Chief C.O. “BAMF” Bradford was acquitted by a directed verdict this afternoon. That’s pretty much a slam dunk for those who thought this whole trial was borderline at best. Minutes after the state rested its case against Bradford, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The trial of Houston Police Chief C.O. “BAMF” Bradford has begun, and the fur is flying. Bradford’s lawyers say the whole thing is a political vendetta. The prosecutor says it isn’t. I can barely keep track of who’s saying what, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Several jurors in the perjury trial of Chief C.O. “BAMF” Bradford expressed confusion and frustration about why they were all there in the first place: “I don’t see how this issue is worth the court’s time. … It seems like … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Jury selection is complete for the cussin’-and-lyin’-about-it trial of Houston Police Chief C.O. “BAMF” Bradford. Twelve stouthearted and true fellow citizens will get to decide if he perjured himself or just has a (possibly convenient) leaky memory. Twenty potential jurors … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Embattled Houston Police Chief C.O. “BAMF” Bradford goes on trial starting Tuesday for perjury. The charge stems from an incident in which Bradford said under oath that he had never cursed at his assistants, a statement that was contradicted by … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Houston City Council will go ahead and pay that outside law firm to expunge the K-Mart arrests despite its previous concerns. I still think it’s too expensive, but at least it’ll get done. Continue reading →

The Chron has a pretty strong editorial lambasting Mayor Brown for the latest developments in the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup. Like me, they wonder why it’s so danged expensive to expunge arrest records: The city legal department can’t perform the task … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Deciding that $484 per case is a bit much for erasing the arrest record for those caught in the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup, the City Council has decided to wait and consider other options. Councilman Gordon Quan said he did not … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A two-Claude headline in the Chron today: Taxpayers may feel brunt of Kmart sting. Who’d have ever thought of that? Actually, we’re not even talking about potential lawsuit costs, but the costs of cleaning up all the arrest records: City … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Captain Mark Aguirre and Sergeant Ken Wenzel appeared in court yesterday to be arraigned on five counts of official oppression. (Why five counts? There were 270 arrests, not that I’d expect 270 counts. Why not one count? Where do the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Two more lawsuits have been filed on behalf of 43 people arrested in the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup. The suits seek “unspecified damages” and name the indicted Captain Mark Aguirre and Sergeant Ken Wenzel as well as the city of Houston … Continue reading → Continue reading →

HPD Captain Mark Aguirre and Sergeant Ken Wenzel have been indicted on charges of official oppression stemming from their role in the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup. For the record, “official oppression”, which sounds vaguely Orwellian to me, is a Class A … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The man himself, Captain Mark Aguirre, testified for four hours before the grand jury that’s apparently looking into charges against him for the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup. Unfortunately, as grand jury proceedings are secret, there’s not much meat to this story. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A grand jury has been impaneled to investigate whether any police officers involved in the raid broke the law when conducting the mass arrest. As yet, no officers have been charged for their role. We’ll see how this plays out. Continue reading →

Kevin points me to this Instapundit piece about a rave bust in Racine, WI, where the police ticketed nearly 450 attendees and busted 3 others for drugs. He compares it to the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup in terms of the ratio … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Chron notes that all those lawsuits that are fixin’ to be filed over the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup could add up to a lot of money, even in individual awards are likely to be limited. Oh, and it seems that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The number of lawsuits filed stemming from the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup case is up to three, with many more likely to follow. In their suit, Brandi Ratliff, 18, and William Ryan Grenwelge, 20, claim false imprisonment and blame the city … Continue reading → Continue reading →

And yet another Didn’t Think It Could Possibly Get Any Weirder moment for the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup. Seems that a Houston police officer paid for 50 “no trespassing” signs with his own credit card two days before the Roundup occurred. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

As noted by Kevin, the DA’s office has announced it will drop all charges against those arrested in the Roundup last month and to vacate the convictions of those who already pleaded guilty. I’m glad to hear it. Now let’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Chron intones solemnly about Police Chief C.O. Bradford’s indictment for lying during a disciplinary hearing. I have to say that the whole thing leaves me slack-jawed. How dumb do you have to be to lie about something on the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Houston Press has finally written about the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup, and I have to say it was worth the wait. They’re particularly scathing to Chief Bradford and Captain Aguirre, but pretty much everyone in this sorry episode who deserves … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Captain Mark Aguirre’s sister has spoken up in his defense, saying that he’s the victim of a vendetta by Chief Bradford. She also claims that only the guilty were arrested: “My brother told me the crowd was 500 strong when … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Well, Chief Bradford has testified before the City Council, and he appears to be wimping out. Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford told City Council on Wednesday that he was embarrassed by the mass arrests of 273 people on trespassing charges … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Twelve more police supervisors have joined Captain Aguirre on the sidelines as HPD scrambles to get its story straight. Aguirre’s lawyer says that he doesn’t think there were “innocent people” arrested at the Kiddie Roundup. A $100 million lawsuit has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Well, Captain Mark Aguirre has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation into the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup. As Kevin and Ginger have noted, it looks like Aguirre will ultimately be the fall guy for this debacle, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In the continuing saga of the story that just keeps getting stranger, we now learn that freshman City Council member Michael “Boy Wonder” Berry knew about the raid and had actually attended the August 17 raid at James Coney Island. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Also noted by Kevin Whited, the manager of the Sonic drive-through was not happy with the police raid on Saturday, and unlike the James Coney Island manager, hadn’t agreed to cooperate with police on it. Sonic officials said Thursday that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Turns out the same Captain Aguirre who ordered the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup also was in charge of a raid at a James Coney Island which netted customers as well as trespassers. It just doesn’t look good for Captain Aguirre, does … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ginger notes that Chron columnist Thom Marshall asked some pretty good questions about the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup. He also agrees with me in that towing fees should be refunded and all convictions should be overturned. Not that I normally brag … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ginger has found two stories in the Houston Press about HPD Captain Mark Aguirre, who appears to be the bad guy (or perhaps just the fall guy) for the ill-advised K-Mart Kiddie Roundup from Saturday. Check ’em out. Continue reading →

This is really ugly: The weekend bust of a couple hundred teenagers in a Kmart parking lot was supposed to be a raid on illegal drag racing, but when no such activity was found, the order was given to arrest … Continue reading → Continue reading →