COPS COVERING UP FOR A FELLOW COP

It’s a wonder the cops did not ask the school bus driver, “How fast were you going when you backed into that poor guy’s car?” The school bus driver is lucky he didn’t get ticketed.

On the one hand, it’s noble for cops to take up for one another. On the other hand, it’s flat out wrong when they cover up for any wrongdoing. The head of the Houston Police Officers Union insists the officers did nothing wrong in this case and said the police chief ‘overreacted’ in disciplining anyone. In my opinion, the officers were wrong and the discipline meted out was too lenient.

7 HPD OFFICERS DISCIPLINED OVER DWI COP CASE
By Richard Connelly

Houston Press Hair Balls
September 20, 2011

The Houston Police Department has disciplined seven officers for their actions in the wake of a fellow cop's drunk-driving accident, spokesman Victor Senties tells Hair Balls.

Senties confirmed a Houston Chronicle report that the following actions were taken:

Assistant Chief Dan Perales and Sgt. Paul Ogden were given written reprimands; supervisors Capt. Robert Manzo and Lt. Andrew King were suspended one day without pay, and thee other officers were ordered to counseling over their actions.

The officer who began it all, Sgt. Ruben Trejo, was fired last week for the April 13 crash.

Seven amazing things about that crash, in which Trejo ran a red light and smashed into a school bus with no kids in it:

7. Trejo blew a .176, more than twice the legal limit.

6. It was 2:15 in the afternoon.

5. He was on his way into work. That certainly was shaping up to be a helluva shift.

4. The bus driver he hit said, "He smelled drunk and he had beer and wine opened in his car."

3. Witnesses said cops covered the bottles with a towel and threatened anyone trying to take pictures.

2. Manzo offered this quote for the ages, which we're sure he would have given for any non-HPD driver found with beer on his breath after running into a school bus: "There is indeed some alcohol in the vehicle, but I want to make perfectly clear that it is not illegal to have sealed, closed containers of alcohol in a vehicle -- what is a violation of the law is if they are open," said Robert Manzo, with HPD.

1. Manzo also told reporters at the scene that blood tests would exonerate Trejo.

Not HPD's proudest day, to be sure.