Nonetheless, Garcia said he is distressed by incidents, including the recent shooting deaths of a black police erroneously believed to be an armed robber and of a 16-year-old unarmed Mexican-American burglary suspect. Instead, they returned him to the hole, where they continued to beat him, and where he was either pushed or fell into the bayou. By John M. Crewdson; Special to The New York Times. Denson and Orlando were also convicted of assault and sentenced to nine months in prison. The widely publicized case was moved on a change of venue to Huntsville, a town of 20,000, about 70 miles north of Houston. Dan Solomon writes about politics, music, food, sports, criminal justice, health care, film, and business. During the research process, Moravec found that the Chicano Squad posted a consistently higher clearance rate than other HPD units. And to this day, Morales remains skeptical that the Chicano Squad was the answer. According to the Houston Police Department, officers spotted a black Honda Accord that was reported stolen out of College Station at about 5:10 p.m. near Fairbanks North Houston and West Little York. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. Houston's independent source of In Chicano Squad, an eleven-episode podcast released in January by Vox Media, host and actress Cristela Alonzo follows Houstons attempts to grapple with the aftermath of Torress death, which included the creation of the first all-Latino homicide squad in the country. In interviews with members of the Chicano Squad, the podcast shines a light on its predicament. Updated: June 20, 2015. "'You're not going to take him and do what you did to Joe Campos Torres.". [Victim's mother Margaret TORRES - feels happy because she wanted justice and doesn't want this to happen again.] The Torres case prompted the Houston Police Department to create its Internal Affairs Division in 1977. When they brought him to the station, according to the testimony of a police sergeant on duty, Mr. Torres needed medical treatment. The convicted former officers are Terry W. Denson, 27, and Stephen Orlando, 22. In 1977, Joe Campos Torres had been arrested at a Houston bar for disorderly conduct. More than 40 people were arrested during the riots, which became nationwide news and led to the creation of HPD's internal affairs department. They were, however, later convicted of civil rights violations and served nine months in prison. The killing of Torres - a Hispanic veteran arrested at an East End bar - was the spark that set off a series of protests, firings and reforms that eventually transformed the Houston Police Department into the modern crime-fighting institution that we know today. "The environment that created the Torres case continues to exist," Garcia said, "and we can expect a continuation of the same kind of thing.". In May 1977, Houston Police arrested Army veteran Joe Campos Torres following a disturbance outside an East End bar. Officer Terry Denson came up with the idea: "Let's see if the wetback can swim," he said. 'I am the chief of police, but I am a son of Houston, and what people need to understand is if you cannot see and feel 44 years of pain and suffering of this family, you're not human,' Finner said. The judge received dismissed the case without explanation. State District Judge James Warref of Walker County sentenced them to one year probation and a $1 fine. View other clips in this broadcast . The case and its verdict outraged the local Mexican-American community, sparking protests outside the Harris County Courthouse and police headquarters. The jury returned a probated sentence of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine. Two additional officers at the scene, Glenn Brinkmeyer and Lewis Kinney, were suspended from duty but granted immunity by the state in exchange for their testimony. (Houston, Texas) Background of case involving alleged beating of Joe Campos Torres, which resulted in his drowning, by officers Terry Wayne Denson, Stephen Orlando and Joseph Janish given. The violence May 7 left five police officers and two newsmen injured, and several stores in the area burned or looted. Taylor Prewitt is the newsletter editor for Texas Monthly. The Justice Department brought civil rights charges against the three after Mr. Denson and Mr. Orlando were acquitted of murder charges in state court. A desk sergeant ordered the six officers to take Torres to Ben Taub General Hospital for medical treatment. Officers Terry Denson (left) and Stephen Orlando (right) were the only two officers convicted of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor, in the death of Torres, and each was fined $1 and given probation. Last month, members of Congress visited our city to learn about HPD's successful community programs. Many segments are silent and would have been voiced over by the anchorperson during a live broadcast. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. The sentences that Judge Sterling imposed were each one year and one day, but they were set to run concurrently with separate oneyear sentences he imposed on the three men last year for a misdemeanor count of violating the victim's civil rights. Witnesses on the other side of the bayou couldnt make out what was happening in the darkness, but they heard a scuffle, then a splash. Looters struck the store during a riot that began at Moody Park. When police attempted to make an arrest at a Cinco de Mayo celebration in Moody Park, attendees began throwing rocks and overturning police cars. This is a carousel. You may visit the Television News Archive on the Vanderbilt campus to view on-site from the Archive's collection. Bond resigned months later after only serving a year. Attorneys for the three defendants said they would probably appeal the verdict. Forty-five year struggle wins a bit of justice. Officers Terry Denson and Stephen Orlando were convicted of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor, and were fined $1 and sentenced to probation. City officials vowed to memorialize Torres in some way, The worst thing for her, she said was that, 'No matter how many apologies we get, it can never change the fact because Joe, at the end, never got justice.'. Each to Serve Extra Day for Roles in Suspect's Death Judge Assailed as Too Lenient. Austin, TX 78751, Grand Jury Investigation into the Death of Jos Campos Torres (1977). Terry Denson and Steven Orlando, for murder. The squads success came from how connected they were to these neighborhoods. There, they brutally beat him for several hours. Jerry Click/ Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less 35 of 56 Houston police officers administer first aid to Officer Tommy A. Britt, injured by a car that broke through a police line at Irvington . Joining HPD was regarded almost as a betrayal. The Torres case prompted the Houston Police Department to create its Internal Affairs Division in 1977. Houston. Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston. Denson and Orlando were also convicted of assault and sentenced to nine months in prison. Its not uncommon for the stories of Latinos to be minimized or excluded entirely from Texas history books. We need to be honest about our history in order to learn from it, because decades later, the same thing is still happening., For decades before Torress murder, violent encounters with HPD officers had soured the relationship between the police department and the citys Black and Latino communities. Torres was 23 on the night of May 5, 1977, when he was arrested for disorderly conduct at a bar, according to reports from the Houston Chronicle at the time. There, they brutally beat him for several hours. News car burns in background as youths prepare to burn Houston police car on Fulton Street. The city was quickly growing into the murder capital of the United States as a slew of unsolved killings in Houstons barrios piled up. Jose "Joe" Campos Torres, shown in a photo held by his sister Janie Torres in 1998, was arrested after a 1977 Cinco de Mayo disturbance. 'Let's get this clear because there's been some chatter in the neighborhoods [about] how Chief Finner feels about this,' he said of Torres' death, 'and that is straight-up murder of somebody. 09/13/1977 - Fired HPD officer Terry Denson, right, arrives for court at the Criminal Justice Center at Sam Houston State University where his trial for the May 6 murder of Joe Campos . Though he served in that role for less than three years, Caldwell instituted key reforms that still exist today, such as HPD's first internal affairs department, HPD's first formal manual and the first liaisons to minority communities. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. After a jail booking officer refused to accept Torres because of his injuries and ordered him taken to a hospital, the officers returned to the secluded spot, where one of them allegedly pushed him over a 17-foot embankment into the water after saying, "Let's see if this wetback can swim.". With limited resources and no prior detective training, they faced scrutiny from all sides. Welcome! With those words, Officer Terry Denson tossed Joe Campos Torres into Buffalo Bayou. "No parade, no day of remembrance. 6:00AM, Kinetic Celebrates Womens History Month with a World Premiere, What Your Favorite Mainline Final Fantasy Game Says About You. For Alonzo, the Chicano Squad is a reminder that reform is possible, even if its difficult to sustain. Rishi Sunak is urgently reviewing his private exchanges with Matt Hancock after bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks cold in fridge at DH!' They were ordered to take him to Ben Taub General Hospital, but instead of doing so, the officers brought him back to the banks of Buffalo Bayou and pushed him into the water. The three former officers, Terry W. Denson, 29 years old, Joseph J. Janish, 25 and Stephen Orlando, 24, were found guilty in Judge Sterling's court last year of responsibility for the death by. (Studio) Report on conviction of 3 former Houston policemen accused of violating civil rights of Mex.-American who drowned while in their custody. One of them removed the handcuffs. ', Torres' sister Janie said she was 10 at the time of her brother's death and that her family was never the same. While speakers from the La Raza Unida party, the Texas Farmworkers Union, the Barrios Unidos en Defensa and the Torres family addressed the crowd, the father of the dead man, Joe Torres Sr., watched with his wife Margaret. . He said looters from the riot at Moody Park knocked out windows and forced the clerk to flee through the back of the store as the crowd looted. The apology to Torres' family was the first by any city official, and Finner promised to work with the family to build a monument in Torres' name. Instead, they brought him back to the Hole. Holland, 80, previously was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Houston's Chicano community found the fine especially hard to swallow, with chants of "A Chicano's life is only worth a dollar," reverberating through the neighborhood and throughout the country's Mexican-American communities. Torres subsequently drowned. Of the six, initially only officers Terry Denson and Steven Orlando were charged with murder. According to the podcast, between 1950, when the police department hired its first Hispanic officer, and 1970, HPD had hired fewer than 20 Hispanic officers. By Gloria Rubac posted on April 12, 2022. 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About 150 protesters met at Commerce and San Jacinto on May 21, 1977 near the site where the body of Joe Campos Torres was found just weeks before. REPORTER: Dennis Murphy (KHOU-TV) Artist: Harris Milam. Films shown; previous state trial of 2 officers and demands of local Mex.-Americans for Justice Department probe noted. An all-white jury found them guilty of negligent homicidea misdemeanorand sentenced the officers. 'I will never be the same, my family will never be the same. The state granted immunity for two others, Glenn Brinkmeyer and Lewis Kinney, in exchange for their testimony. Cat Cardenas is a writer focused on culture, entertainment, and the states Latino community. 'My mother was never the same after Jose was killed,' his sister Janie Torres, who was 10 at the time her brother's death, said. Torres drowned after he had been arrested by Houston police officers for creating a disturbance in an East End bar. Their convictions were for criminally negligent homicide, a first-degree misdemeanor. Dairy Queen Gets an Updated Jingle, Courtesy of Josh Abbott, Check Out Kilgores Treasure Trove of Vintage Cameras, Radios, and TVs, How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire. Chief Troy Finner issued the apology on Sunday to the family of Joe Campos Torres, a Mexican-American Vietnam War veteran, who was beaten to death and his body dumped in the Buffalo Bayou by Houston police officers in 1977. Carlos Calbillo sits on railing near Buffalo Bayou near Commerce Street, the area where his friend Joe Campos Torres was killed by police in 1977. To some of their fellow officers, it didnt matter whether they wore a badge or passed their exam, they were Mexicans first. The 14-year-old was cowering against the wall when he was shot. This unedited footage from Houston's KPRC-TV captures protesters outside the Houston Police Department headquarters on May 16, 1977. By 1977, the year Torres was killed, HPD had hired just 161 Hispanic officers to serve a community with more than 200,000 Latino residents. Report: Houston is the No. Hernandez, Raymond Gonzalez, and Jose Selvera Jr. On top of their translating work in the field, the squad was also tasked with investigating 52 cases that experienced detectives on the force hadnt been able to crack. Family members and friends of his are working to win approval of historical markers at Moody Park to commemorate Torres' death and the community's reaction. Torres was allegedly beaten and then drowned by Houston police. Consider it our city's version of the Ferguson protests. Houston makes national news all the time. Healthy mother-of-two, 32, collapsed and died from brain bleed while she led fitness bounce class. His drowned body was found three days later on May 8, 1977 - exactly 40 years ago today. If I didnt tell you that this story took place forty years ago, you might think it had just happened, Alonzo told me. The group cleared forty homicides by the end of 1979 and later earned the recognition of the National Latino Peace Officers, in 1997, when they solved 91 percent of the cases theyd been assigned. Torres, an American citizen and a former serviceman, was wearing combat boots at the time of the fatal plunge. Houston, and its police department, had to respond. After learning of Mr. Torres's death, Carless Elliott, a 20yearold rookie police officer who witnessed the incident, reported what he had seen to his superiors. "All those cops, they just got a slap on the wrist, and you know what? All of the jurors were white, none was Mexican-American and five either worked for law enforcement agencies or had relatives who did. The three former officers, Terry W. Denson, 29 years old, Joseph J. Janish, 25 and Stephen Orlando, 24, were found guilty in Judge Sterling's court last year of responsibility for the death by drowning of Joe Campos Torres, 23, a laborer. Note to sponsor members: The Vanderbilt Television News Archive video player requires a modern operating system and browser to work properly. Officers Terry Denson (left) and Stephen Orlando (right) were the only two officers convicted of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor, in the death of Torres, and each was fined $1 and given. State District Judge James Warref of Walker County sentenced them to one year probation and a $1 fine. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. About 100 persons rallied Saturday in front of the Houston police station to protest the sentences two former officers received following the death of Joe Campos Torres. Today, Campos Torres' family is working to erect an official marker to commemorate his death and the riots. The case and its verdict outraged the local Mexican American community, sparking protests outside the Harris County Courthouse and police headquarters. Dolph Briscoe, prompted the Department of Justice to seek indictments against the former officers on charges of having violated Mr. Torres's civil rights. They're dead, Michael C. Ramsey, one of the defense lawyers, said of the Justice Department's appeal effort, which he termed frivolous. Mr. Ramsey said he considered today's sentences a victory for the additional reason that the three defendants would no longer have to face the five years probation originally imposed by the Judge. Chicano Squad members recognized at City Hall, Houston, 2019. six responding Houston Police Department officers, one year of probation and fined them each $1. Three buildings in the shopping center were gutted by the fire. When the case was brought to federal court in February 1978, Denson, Orlando, and officer Joseph Janish were convicted of federal rights violations and were sentenced to one year in prison. Instead of being transferred to Ben Taub Hospital for treatment, Torres was taken to a site along Buffalo Bayou near Commerce, where he either jumped or was pushed into the bayou. Defense attorney Bob Bennett and his client, Terry Denson, exit the courtroom to deliver comments to the press. Outraged Mexican-American spokesman immediately called on the U.S. Justice Department to prosecute the case in federal court as a civil rights violation, for which the officers could receive up to life in prison. West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country, The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians, The Campaign to Sabotage Texass Public Schools. Chief Bond comments on the function of the Civilian Review Board. By the time Torres arrived at the jail, authorities refused to book him due to the extent of his injuries. In 1977, Torres had been arrested at a Houston bar for disorderly conduct. And those who chronicled the attack said the executioner was. How the Houston Zoo moved its flock of flamingos to a new home, Why the Texans should take Bijan Robinson with the No. Truth about Covid care home testing row: Timeline lays bare what was said, by who and when. Articles about the drowning of Joe Campos Torres appeared in the Houston Chronicle on May 15, 1977. The Government appealed, arguing that probation was not permissible in cases where the possible penalty was life in prison, as it is in Federal civil rights cases in which the victim has died. On June 28, a Harris County grand jury indicted two of the officers, Terry Denson and Steven Orlando, for murder and a third, J. J. Janisch, for misdemeanor assault. Slowly, the Chicano Squad earned back the trust that HPD had lost. Five months after Torress murder, an all-white jury found Denson and Orlando guilty of negligent homicidea misdemeanor. Houston firemen put out fire of burning car flipped during a riot that began in nearby Moody Park. Torres' death and the light punishment the officers involved received would spark the infamous Moody Park riot one year later. and help keep the future of the Houston Press, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, HPD Investigating Victims' Crime Advocate Andy Kahan, A Murder in Montrose: the Paul Broussard Legacy. More often than not, they were the first Spanish-speaking officers the victims had come into contact with. ,The allwhite jury of seven men and five women was in its second day of deliberations after a trial conducted by Judge Ross N. Sterling, and had deliberated for a total of seven hours before reaching the verdict. The former policemen had been on trial in connection with the drowning death of her son. See the article in its original context from. The location is just off the 1200 block of Commerce. Although members of the Houston police force have previously been accused of brutality against prisoners, the Torres case is the first such incident to be brought to trial. You've got five officers sworn to protect, five, sworn to protect and serve and murdered an active military soldier,'. Watch: Astros SP Luis Garcia debuts new windup after rule changes, Oops! Divers were hoping to find a wallet belonging to Torres. Following a month-long trial, an all-white jury convicted Denson and Orlando on a reduced charge of negligent homicidea misdemeanor . Here are four Houston murders that made news and, in three cases, changed the justice system. Above is the abstract of the item that you're interested in viewing from the Vanderbilt Television News Archive's collection. Two days after Torres was arrested, his mangled body was found floating in Buffalo Bayou. We can only hope that the next congressional delegation brings along Sessions so that he, too, can learn the story of Joe Campos Torres and Chief Caldwell. 512-485-3073 The officers then took Torres to the city jail, where jailers refused to process him due to his injuries. Surviving members of Torres' family also spoke on Sunday. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Terry W. Denson. The conflicts could have kept escalating were it not for Houston's new police chief, Harry Caldwell, who was hired a few months after the riot. He said it demonstrated once again that there is "a dual standard of justice" in Texas, adding, "Our only redress in the federal courts.". It's never had its own day, but is definitely something that should be remembered, a lesson of Houston history and among Mexican-Americans. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. 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