Instead, the officers returned to The Hole, where they continued to beat Torres. Find Terry Denson's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading people search directory for contact information and public records. Phone 615-322-2927. 3908 Avenue B, Suite 105 Judge Sterling has been criticized recently by some members of a Federal grand jury here that handed up antiracketeering indictments against two oilbrokering firms. As news of the atrocity spread, Torress name became a rallying cry that united the citys Latino community in its search for justice. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Defense attorney Bob Bennett and his client, Terry Denson, exit the courtroom to deliver comments to the press. Torres subsequently drowned. By Associated Press and Peter Belfiore For Dailymail.Com, Published: 17:01 GMT, 28 June 2021 | Updated: 08:56 GMT, 29 June 2021, Houston's police chief has publicly apologized to the family of a man killed by six officers more than four decades ago, calling it a 'straight-up murder.'. And though her mother instilled in her a love for the U.S., Alonzo was also aware that her identity as a Mexican American sometimes made her a target. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. [Houston United States attorney Tony CANALES - thinks justice served.] local news and culture, Olivia Flores Alvarez Houston firemen fight a blaze which was reportedly set by rioters in the 4400 block of Fulton. Houston, and its police department, had to respond. Last month, members of Congress visited our city to learn about HPD's successful community programs. Houston Police lineup in riot gearin the 1978 Moody Park riots.. Houston Police in riot gearin the 1978 Moody Park riots.. Houston police make arrests in the 1978 Moody Park riots. Houston Police Chief B. G. "Pappy" Bond holds a press conference in his office. At least 22 persons were arrested at a city park after violence broke out in the chiefly Mexican-American neighborhood following a disturbance which led to vandalism and bottle throwing among the estimated mob of 1,500 persons. Poe served as a chief felony prosecutor for eight years before being appointed a state district judge in 1981. "'You're not going to take him and do what you did to Joe Campos Torres.". 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. Earlier this month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the appeal and ordered Judge Sterling to impose prison terms. By John M. Crewdson; Special to The New York Times. 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. Reporters interview Harris County District Attorney Carol Vance, Divers search the depths of Buffalo Bayou for Torres' wallet, Protests outside the Harris County Courthouse. Welcome! The Torres case prompted the Houston Police Department to create its Internal Affairs Division in 1977. In interviews with members of the Chicano Squad, the podcast shines a light on its predicament. On April 3, a plaza, a monument, a huge portrait, and a walking trail were all unveiled and dedicated to remembering a man brutally murdered by Houston police almost 45 years ago. Austin, TX 78751. The location is just off the 1200 block of Commerce. Killings, planted evidence and a federal discrimination lawsuit all provided the fuel that Torres' death set ablaze at an event known as the Moody Park Riot. Sam Buyajian 33, surveys the wreckage of his drive-in grocery at 3814 Fulton. Police responded to a call at the park on the evening of May 7, 1978, and as the crowd began chanting Justice for Jose Torres, a riot broke out. Powerful Commons committee could look at case for banning stoves in towns and Love Island hit by hundreds of Ofcom complaints from furious viewers over 'toxic femininity' row and Movie Carrie Johnson joins campaign for Joanna Simpson's killer BA pilot husband who bludgeoned her to death with 'I don't know if I can trust them': Mel B reveals she 'wouldn't call the police' over domestic violence - Houston police chief Troy Finner formally apologizes to family of Joe Campos Torres over 1977 death - ABC13 Houston, Do not sell or share my personal information. By the following morning, 28 demonstrators had been taken into custody. A number of people have since been tried. And sometimes it's Houston murders. 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. To some of their fellow officers, it didnt matter whether they wore a badge or passed their exam, they were Mexicans first. Torres' death and the light punishment the officers involved received would spark the infamous Moody Park riot one year later. Its not uncommon for the stories of Latinos to be minimized or excluded entirely from Texas history books. When police attempted to make an arrest at a Cinco de Mayo celebration in Moody Park, attendees began throwing rocks and overturning police cars. View the profiles of people named Terry Denson. Bring on the Shiplap? "No parade, no day of remembrance. info@texasarchive.org Assistant District Attorney Ted Poe talks about coordination between the District Attorney's Office and the grand jury. His death and the light punishment the officers received would spark the infamous Moody Park Riot one year later. Sentencing offenders to perform humiliating tasks like shoveling manure, he became known as the "King of Shame." CBS Evening News for Wednesday, Feb 08, 1978 Im not an immigration officer. But Glenn L. Brinkmeyer, 25, one of those given immunity and an officer in whose wedding Denson had served as a groomsman, testified that Denson had pushed Torres. Officers Terry Denson and Stephen Orlando were convicted of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor, and were fined $1 and sentenced to probation. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Terry W. Denson. Officers Terry Denson and Stephen Orlando were convicted of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor, and were fined $1 and sentenced to probation. 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. Films shown; previous state trial of 2 officers and demands of local Mex.-Americans for Justice Department probe noted. The pain is a lot deeper than what you could have ever imagined. Officials at the jail refused to book Torres due to his injuries, and told the officers to bring him to a hospital. The judge received dismissed the case without explanation. "The community had this insurrection in the face of the brutality of the Houston Police Department," Carlos Calbillo, a community historian and filmmaker who made a documentary about the Torres case, told the Houston Chronicle in 2011. Caldwell agreed, greenlighting a three-month-long pilot program in August of 1979 with five recruits who now made up the Chicano Squad: Cecil Mosqueda, Robert Gatewood, U.P. Surviving members of Torres' family also spoke on Sunday. 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. Police officers seen outside emergency entrance of Memorial Hermann following the fatal shooting of an on-duty Houston Police Department officer Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019, in Houston. Once there, officials refused to book him because of the extent of his injuries, and ordered that he be admitted to a hospital. Six police officers took Torres to a spot called "The Hole" next to Buffalo Bayou and beat him. The Department of Justice is supposed to fill that leadership role at a national level. Instead of being taken to jail, police took Campos Torres to "The Hole," an isolated area behind a warehouse along Buffalo Bayou where Houston Police Department officers could write reports, question suspects and sleep. 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. 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. This edited footage from Houston's KPRC-TV follows the grand jury investigation into the death of Jos Campos Torres, a 23-year-old Mexican American and Vietnam War veteran. Campos Torres was beaten by six officers for hours before they took him to the city jail. "We never got justice," his sister Sandra Torres told the Houston Chronicle in 2011. 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Torres, an American citizen and a former serviceman, was wearing combat boots at the time of the fatal plunge. 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. We can change these systems. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Rishi Sunak is urgently reviewing his private exchanges with Matt Hancock after bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks cold in fridge at DH!' 'Our ultimate goal is humanizing our uncle at this point. Vanderbilt Television News Archive A gutted variety store at a shopping center in the 3100 block of Fulton. EXCLUSIVE: Lanzarote sticks to its guns and insists it WILL limit tourists and move away from relying on Jeremy Clarkson DENIES he has been sacked as Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? Facebook gives people the power to. Rioters looted and set fire to a shopping center, and fifteen people were injured including five police officers and two news personnel. His body was found days later. '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. Testimony at the Federal trial alleged that Mr. Torres was beaten severely after his arrest and forced to jump into the bayou by Mr. Denson, who told the man he wanted to see if a wetback can swim. Mr. Torres was a native Houstonian and a Vietnam veteran. The Houston Police Department first arrested Phillips's replacement, a Security Guard Services, Inc. employee named Robert Taylor. The case became a national symbol of police brutality against Hispanics in the Southwest. See the article in its original context from. Two former Houston policemen on trial for beating and drowning a Mexican-American prisoner in their custody last May were convicted by a jury today of misdemeanor charges that will cost each no more than a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. Instead, they returned him to the hole, where they continued to beat him, and where he was either pushed or fell into the bayou. The three former officers are to be sentenced late next month. His body was found by a boater three days later. Taylor Prewitt is the newsletter editor for Texas Monthly. HPD is now hiring for our upcoming classes. Rather than taking him directly to the nearby jail, six responding Houston Police Department officers took a detour to a secluded spot near Buffalo Bayou that they called The Hole. It's never had its own day, but is definitely something that should be remembered, a lesson of Houston history and among Mexican-Americans. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. 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. (Two activists, Travis Morales and Mara Youngdahl, were later fined a total of $9,000 on misdemeanor riot charges.). You may visit the Television News Archive on the Vanderbilt campus to view on-site from the Archive's collection. HOUSTON, Oct. 30 Federal District Judge Ross N. Sterling, acting under orders from a Federal appeals court to impose prison terms on three former Houston police officers he had sentenced to probation for their roles in the death of a young MexicanAmerican man, today handed the three what amounted to an extra day in orison. The Torres case prompted the Houston Police Department to create its Internal Affairs Division in 1977. Aided by the research of producer and Austin-based journalist Eva Ruth Moravec, Alonzo guides listeners through interviews with Chicano activists, former police officers, scholars, and Torress family members. '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 Cavaliers said . 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Chief Bond comments on the function of the Civilian Review Board. Bond resigned months later after only serving a year. Their convictions were for criminally negligent homicide, a first-degree misdemeanor. Federal prosecutors termed the verdict a compromise, noting that the defendants were not found guilty of additional charges that they had conspired to obstruct justice by withholding information about the incident from Federal investigators. 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. It's been 40 years since 23-year-old Vietnam War veteran Joe Campos Torres' body was found washed up on the banks of the Buffalo Bayou. Five months after Torress murder, an all-white jury found Denson and Orlando guilty of negligent homicidea misdemeanor. Rather than transport him to jail for booking, the six responding officers first took Torres to "The Hole," an isolated area behind a warehouse along Buffalo Bayou. 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.'. The girl's parents told the police they went to sleep at about 11 p.m. Saturday, and when . 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. In San Antonio, a Road Map for the Future of Texas Art, A Users Guide to All the Banned Books in Texas, Author John Graves Was a Literary Godfather to Texas Monthly, The Best High School Basketball Team in Texas Doesnt Need a State Title, The Photo the Dallas Cowboys Never Wanted the Public to See, Wouldnt People Like Some Good News?: The Lasting Popularity of Texas Country Reporter. Material supplied by VTNA may be used for educational analysis or research only. The widely publicized case was moved on a change of venue to Huntsville, a town of 20,000, about 70 miles north of Houston. 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. The officers were eventually sentenced to nine months in prison, but tensions simmered for a year until they boiled over on the anniversary of Campos Torres' death. Denson testified that Torres had said he could swim and had jumped into the water. 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 . The judge sentenced them to one year of probation and fined them each $1. [Victim's mother Margaret TORRES - feels happy because she wanted justice and doesn't want this to happen again.] The jury heard four weeks of testimony alleging that six police officers had taken Joe Campos Torres, 23, a laborer, from a cheap cantina, where he was arrested for public drunkeness, to a secluded spot near a bayou, where five of them beat him severely while his arms were handcuffed behind his back. Officer Terry Denson reportedly used . Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Longtime Virginia men's basketball coach Terry Holland has died, the school announced Monday. 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. A Houston Chronicle reporter and photographer joined the Northeastern Trail Riders Association to document the highlights and challenges of life on the trail during the group's 108-mile journey to the 2023 Houston Letter from the editor: Introducing our exclusive new newsletter, Black trail riders head to Houston rodeo parade after grueling, joyful 6-day journey. Probation and fined them each $ 1 or excluded entirely from Texas history books be used for educational or! Comments to the New York Times We never got justice, '' sister. Manure, he became known as the `` King of Shame. each month named! `` King of Shame. for educational analysis or research only used for educational or... 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