My Journal #202 - Holley

Let’s chat about current events.

Here in Houston a kid was beaten by police while being arrested. A security camera attached to a storage facility caught the beating. One officer has been tried and acquitted. Three more begin their trials this week.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the news could report facts?

Let me explain something to you; most of what you hear, whether it is television, radio, friends or even blogs (except for mine) is false. Maybe it’s not intentionally false, but false is false nonetheless. When something happens in our communities a race begins. This race is to see who can get the story on the air waves the quickest. And needless to say, accuracy is far from important.

[I remember in my con days I was told by my mentor that if you want someone to believe you then tell them something they want to believe]

And now let me caution you, when you hear about BREAKING NEWS, take it with a grain of salt. Folks, the ONLY place in the world where it is illegal to lie is in a court of law when you are under oath to tell the truth. Other than that it’s just a nuisance.

Before you take any actions based on a news story, try to check it out yourself. Read more stories, check the internet, look at video’s yourself, and just be responsible. And if possible, do what I did and go to the darn trial, where I repeat that you MUST be honest, and listen to the FACTS.

In the case of Chad Holley, it was reported that an upstanding black child was brutally attacked by four police officers. Upon hearing this story the community went viral. People wanted someone’s head on a platter. About a week ago, the first officer was tried and acquitted. Upon hearing this news the community began urging its citizens to attack people of other races to get justice.

Today there is tension all over Houston. Basically we are on the verge of racial violence. And the shit of it is that the news media CREATED all this tension just to MAKE a story. When they release the court findings in this instance, they showed a picture of Chad Holley in 8th grade. Yes, he looked like a child. Then they showed pictures of uniformed police officers in tactical gear and the caption was “Officer Gets off Scott Free”.

C’mon . . . . Really?

So I attended one day of the trial. Upon the conclusion of the trial, I paid for the transcripts. So let me share with you the FACTS of this case.

The officer on trial for POLICE MISCONDUCT testified that he never touched Chad Holly. Chad Holley testified that this officer never touched him. This officer ran to the aid of fellow officers, is in the video for 3.7 seconds. He arrives in the video, looks at scene, and then sprints away to help another officer who is dealing with another perpetrator.

Since the officer and Holley both testified under oath that nothing happened between them, the officer was acquitted. For the record, the officer had already been fired by HPD for policy violations pertaining to this incident. So anyone that knew the FACTS of this particular trial would see very clearly that this particular officer did absolutely nothing wrong. If you do nothing wrong then you shouldn’t be found guilty.

In this particular case I believe justice was served. But let me tell you some other pertinent facts that came out in this trial to help illustrate how the media twisted the information to create what is now a very deadly situation.

• Under oath, Chad Holley admitted he was a member of a gang.
• The attorney for the officer presented Facebook photos of Holley, not from 8th grade but from the past few months. In the photos he was wearing gang colors and showing gang signs.
• Holley had three previous arrests.
• Holley had skipped school to assist his gang / friends with a home burglary.
• The police had a tip that his group would be committing a burglary on the day in question and that on the previous day the same individuals had burglarized a home where two weapons had been stolen.
• The police staked out the house where the individuals were meeting, watched as they boarded a van and drove to an unoccupied home, watched as they broke a window to gain entrance, and watched as they exited the home with their stolen loot.
• The police then attempted to stop the vehicle with the criminals and watched as several individuals (including Holley) exited the moving vehicle and began fleeing on foot.
• The police chased Holley demanding that he stop running and lie flat on the ground.
• Holley refused to stop and instead tried to climb a chain link fence to escape.
• Holley was pulled to the ground and told to keep his hands where they could be seen.
• Holley reached into his pants.
• Three officers attacked Holley believing he was reaching for one of the weapons stolen the previous day.
• No weapon was found.

Now these are the facts presented in court. Based on these facts, it seems obvious that Holley was not a child that had been randomly attacked by police. Holley was a young man, hanging around known criminals, and performing criminal actions himself. Holley was violent and could have been carrying a weapon. Holley was fleeing a crime scene after being told he was under arrest. Holley acted inappropriately.

[Hey, here’s a hint . . . if a cop tells you to do something, DON”T RUN!]

So take my advice . . .

Be smart, read everything, listen to people cautiously, use your own judgment, and don’t cast aspersions until you are confident that you know the truth.