Pubdate: Tue, 20 Oct 1998
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 1998 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/ 
Author: Jo Ann Zuiga And S.K. Bardwell

PROTESTERS VOW TO PRESS FIGHT OVER OREGON

The mother of a man killed in his home by police expressed
disappointment Monday at a grand jury's decision to indict only one
officer involved in the fatal raid, and that for criminal trespass, a
misdemeanor.

"I'm very sad about what has happened. Maybe if I could speak English,
they would have listened to me," said Claudia Navarro, mother of Pedro
Oregon Navarro.

"I'm very frustrated, but I believe there is a God, and we are still
waiting for justice."

Members of the Hispanic community vowed to fight for further action
against the officers involved while police and a civil rights group
asked those angered by the decision to remain calm.

Demonstrators from the Justice for Pedro Oregon Coalition protested in
a steady drizzle Monday in front of the Harris County Criminal
Courthouse chanting, "No justice, no peace."

"This gives the green light for cops to go into homes and kill," said
protester Travis Morales. "A trespass charge is not going to stop any
police officer."

The demonstrators previously had scheduled a march Thursday as part of
the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality. The protest will
begin with a rally at Market Square Park, at Preston and Travis, and
proceed to the police station.

Benito Juarez, a spokesman for the Houston Immigrant and Refugee
Coalition, said: "We were expecting this case to be an example so it
would not happen again.

"But it's sending the wrong message. The way Pedro Oregon was killed
was very clearly a civil rights violation."

Johnny Mata, spokesman for the League of United Latin American
Citizens, said the civil rights group has already requested that the
U.S. Justice Department investigate the case. "We will continue
pressing them on that matter," he said. "This is a travesty of
justice. We're asking for the community to be calm, but there is a lot
of outrage."

"It offends anyone who has any sense of justice," said City Councilman
John Castillo. "There are going to be great feelings of helplessness,
anger, frustration, which can lead to awful conclusions. I think
people need to be aware this can still be handled at the federal level."

Rick Dovalina, national president of LULAC, said: "Good police are
tainted by this process. We believe there's enough information right
now for the chief to fire those police officers ... It's not fair to
the other good officers you have over there."

The National Latino Peace Officers' Association, under the presidency
of HPD police Officer Adrian Garcia, released a statement "calling out
to the Hispanic community to stand strong on whatever their position
may be on this issue, but to reaffirm their position in a
nondestructive manner."

"Our concern is, there may be persons who would encourage this kind of
behavior, such as what happened in Houston in 1978 when the Moody Park
riot occurred.

"Unfortunately, it has taken over 20 years to repair the morale of
that community because of that riot."

But other police officers are not sure that calm will
prevail.

"There's going to be trouble," one Houston officer said. "The public
isn't going to understand. I'm not sure I do."

Mayor Lee Brown and three City Council members said Monday they are
seeking a federal grand jury investigation of the incidents
surrounding Oregon's death.

Brown, Castillo, Orlando Sanchez and Annise Parker dispatched the
joint request soon after the grand jury verdict was announced.

"We feel it is very important for Houstonians to know that this is not
the end of the road," Sanchez said. "Even though the county grand jury
found only one indictable offense, we want to ensure that no federal
laws were broken."

Oregon was killed July 12 when officers assigned to an HPD gang task
force raided his apartment based on information supplied by a drug
suspect.

As at least six officers crowded into a narrow hallway outside
Oregon's bedroom, one officer shouted that Oregon had a gun. When an
officer's gun discharged accidentally, others said, they believed
Oregon had fired on them.

More than 30 shots were fired in the confined space, 12 hitting
Oregon, mainly in the back and from above. The 22-year-old father of
two died. No drugs were found in his apartment.

The single indictment handed down Monday was against Officer James R.
Willis.

"I understand how they could all not be indicted for the shooting,"
said one officer. "I'm not really sure how just one of them could be
indicted for criminal trespass."

Several officers who spoke to the Chronicle Monday did so on condition
they not be identified. Although the criminal investigation concluded
Monday, HPD's administrative investigation is ongoing, and officers
are prohibited from discussing it.

None of the officers expressed surprise at the lack of indictments. As
one put it: "I thought from the beginning that the shooting was a
tragic accident. It was what led them to go into the apartment that I
thought might have been criminal."

That officer, assigned to another gang task force, said the officers
involved in the Oregon raid made mistakes.

Such raids, the officer explained, might be based on an informant's
tip, but the tip has to be taken to a judge who reviews it and issues
a warrant if the tip is found to be sufficient cause for a raid.

HPD policy requires all such informants to be registered with the
department. The one used in the Oregon raid not only was not
registered, he was on probation, which would have made him ineligible
to become an HPD informant.

What surprised most of the officers about the grand jury's action,
they said Monday, was that only one officer was indicted for entering
the apartment illegally.

All the officers who spoke expressed concern about how the public
would view the matter. Said one officer, a 23-year veteran: "I don't
think this is going to be as bad as Joe Campos Torres -- but I say
that hopefully."

Torres, a young Vietnam veteran, died in May 1977 after Houston police
who arrested him for being drunk beat him and threw him into Buffalo
Bayou, where he drowned. Some of the officers involved later got
probated one-year sentences.

In May 1978, anger over the death and the lack of punishment prompted
the Moody Park riot, which sent 15 people to the hospital.
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Checked-by: Patrick Henry