that dude is a huge alcholic, many times I have heard about that guy just being f-uped so I'm sure he was not thinking straight
Galveston is a disaster zone. The tension and despair are still palpable. The police have been stressed to the breaking point. Guess they broke.
Wow. I can't believe I got suckered by the media on this one. I actually believed Galveston was still in intensive blackout and there was no civilization there.
thanks for this tidbit, it was really informative. none of had heard this before anyway, this is pretty serious if the reports are accurate. but its not the first time an athlete has struggled with police.
Galveston city/county police are not to be ****ed with in or near a bar. Seen it first hand several times.
Not sure about the alcoholic part, but he definitely goes out with his boys and gets hammered quite often. For him to buck up to a cop over some BS not even involving him seems like he was in one of those "hammered" situations. He was making noise about the Astros not wanting him next season, I guess he wanted to make sure he isn't back.
Pretty Serious Development: Police accused of Brutality http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6044243.html
Holy ****, if even half of those accusations are true...those policemen need to lose their jobs. If a cop seriously lifted a guy's head up off the ground after he was subdued and pepper-sprayed him in the face for no reason...damn, that's harsh. Of course, it is hard to imagine all of that happening for no apparent reason as the accounts seem to indicate. Also it is odd that despite all these witness accounts, none of these people have claimed police brutality?
there's also some bits and pieces on video, including the cop trying to stop the underage drinker I believe. edit: all these people are arrested, what do you expect them to say. I'll say this, never interfere with police when they are tasering someone
I wouldn't be surprised if there was police brutality involved. These are the cops folks. The guys with all the power. For all we know, the cops have been trying to clean it up and make it look like Backe were the bad guys. Not all cops are saints.
There are some good first hand accounts of what took place at http://Galvestondailynews.com/forums.lasso "The officers in this case used extreme force. There is video of this incident and the people of the wedding party did nothing wrong. I do not understand why they start hitting someone with the batons and their fists before they use the spray or by taizing them? Why were the cops called to begin with? What I am being told by family members is that the security guard had words with Cole at the wedding. He found out where they were going after the reception and called a cop to harass Cole at the bar. The young man in the hospital (Cole) is part of my family. He is in I.C.U. still, and no one, not even his parents are being allowed to see him. Why is this? What are they afraid of? There is NO REASON why this boys parents should not be allowed in that room with their son." "i'm dave carnell, the uncle of this young man who was beaten.. typical the media got the wrong story.. this whole incident stemmed from pure harrassment.. there was no violation of curfew.. they were all inside..the hotel didnt call police..so whats up.. liars, liars, liars.. the galveston p.d. has not yet begun to feel the legal sting that this will bring.. our family is taking this to a federal level .. the numbers that police beat were far higher than this paper reports..do these people think the world is stupid.. chris sanderson is the trash cop that beat my nephew near to death.. he's a bad cop with a history of violence to the public..the galveston p.d. may lye about this but they wont be able to hide from what they allowed to happen.. other officers stated to our family that sandersons judgment caused this whole mess .. they admittedly stated the policy for using tasers & batons is when someone looks at them funny.. who the hell do they think they are.. the public is sick of it ..we have family members who are officers.. so we have the inside story..my nephew is near death with his skull split from a baton .. that sound different from their story..may every cop who is involved step up & be a man & tell the truth or all burn in hell.." Matteu Erchull (Mattye) October 6, 2008 3:22 AM #2 of 23 Reply | Request staff review This may not be the first time I have disagreed with GPD, but I will be the first to admit I owe my own lack of involvement to a few officer's discretions. While I agree that the events that evening may not have been as organized as we all had wished, I cannot live with the aftermath. A bystander myself (mind you I was picking up a roommate who happened to work at H20) it took hours before the stinging of pepper spray administered unnecessarily receded. As far as Backe's involvement, I can only say that I witnessed a public figure sacrifice himself to the mercy of Galveston Police Department's chaotic reaction in defense of young man. No person deserves to be beaten to death and I truly believe if the persons arrested had not intervened, the officers involved may have taken the altercation to that level. Backe truly sacrificed himself to safe this boy. I can only imagine the floury of reports relayed to the responding officers that night and hope they responded the way they did after officer Caldwell's report of a full scale riot. As a first hand witness, I can attest that no such riot took place. If anything, such a "riot or brawl" was ensued by GPD officers themselves rushing H20. The supposed 200 persons at H20 was in actuality between 60-70 persons when officers arrived. Also another question to be addressed is to why certain Galveston Police Officers were so apt to direct San Luis pool bar attendants in cleaning up the blood from the altercation. If Mr. Backe's injuries were photographed, I would only expect the pool of blood from the other subject to be photographed as well as part of evidence. I witnessed no such thing, yet watched pool attendants mop pools of blood under police and San Luis supervision. I know only a few of the wedding party members and this is the first time I have ever interacted with Mr. Backe, but I will be the first to support and applaud his efforts. Mr. Backe and Mr. Ferero acted truly as public figures should in standing up for persons who were subjected to brutality at the hands of police flurried by an isolated altercation. I expect a full investigation to reveal many discrepancies from Officer Sanderson's and Officer Caldwell's accounts. Fortunately, video and photographic evidence was taken from many bystanders and witnesses. I am ashamed that the Galveston Police Department I have respeceted for so long has been subjected to such negative publicity. I pray this will not influence their discretion from here on out. Galveston needs it's police, Galveston needs it people. There is an equal balance and it needs to be found.
Nothing really in this video. Just looks like a solid tasing. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iq0v50vT7bQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iq0v50vT7bQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Brandon Backe files complaint with FBI http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/...t_id=3629890&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou I'm not surprised to hear this news. Witness accounts of the incident a few weeks ago sounded pretty sketchy. I can't imagine that Backe and others would take it this far if there was no foul play. Rafer Alston, on the other hand, has no room to complain based on recent public evidence.
