Texas lawmakers call HPD Harding Street Raid audit a scam
HOUSTON - State Representatives are responding to the Harding Street raid, which left a Houston couple dead and a host of HPD officers arrested.
The state reps call HPD's report into the Harding Street raid a “troubling” audit that doesn't dig deep enough into the real problem.
"I now know why Chief Acevedo has been hiding this report because it's a joke,” says TX State Rep. Gene Wu.
RELATED: More charges announced in botched Harding Street drug raid
The state representatives gathered outside the Houston home on Harding Street where Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas were killed in a “no-knock” raid last year by an HPD Narcotics Squad.
”Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle would have been my constituents if they were alive today,” says State Rep Christina Morales.
The representatives say they have one goal, to make sure this doesn't happen again. "Harding Street is not where the corruption in the Houston Police Department Narcotics Division started but we're hopeful that this is where it will end,” says Wu.
Six former Houston Police Officers have been charged, including Gerald Goines who prosecutors say lied in hundreds of cases to secure convictions. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo released a report into the botched raid.
“This audit is a scam. This audit says there were hundreds of violations in just a handful of cases only going back two years,” adds Wu.
”What we see on this internal audit performed by the department investigating itself is we just get a tiny little peek into the systemic issues,” says State Rep. Jon Rosenthal.
“It doesn't discuss how higher command at 1200 Travis let the problem get to the point where Harding Street happened,” says Wu.
“There still are so many questions that remain unanswered about who was responsible and why this happened,” adds Mike Doyle and attorney for the Nicholas family.
"This was an entire rogue division, this was an entire branch of the Houston Police Department that did whatever it felt like doing,” says Wu.
HPD's report says moving forward, all officers conducting a raid must wear a body camera and turn it on before leaving their vehicleState Rep. Wu has proposed a law to prevent government agencies from hiding reports and audits in the future. The representatives say perhaps an external oversight board is also necessary.