Down Harlingen way, it was cold back in January so Diego Rivas-Soto started a fire under the Highway 77 overpass to keep warm. Rivas-Soto was a Mexican national, with family living in Durango. He was here, looking for work.

Drawn by the fire, the police showed up. Rivas-Soto was obviously frightened, and according to the police version of events, pulled a knife. So they shot him.

Rivas-Soto was shot in the back.

Now, the autopsy reports are in — and more of the story has come to light. Rivas-Soto was fatally shot by a police shotgun blast.

And he was shot in the back. This has been confirmed by the Medical Examiner.

Was he a terrorist or a drug trafficker? Nope. He was just a guy without enough cash to pay for a room on a cold night. In fact, Rivas-Soto was a husband and father, only 41 years old when he died. He had left his wife and five children in their home of San Juan del Rio, a hamlet outside of Durango, Mexico, to get some kind of work in Texas.

Juan Guerra Representing the Family

Juan Angel Guerra is representing the family, and he’s working hard on the case. He’s using his past experience as a 3-term district attorney to question the actions of the Harlingen police department and current district attorney’s office, and he’s already released a copy of the autopsy reports to the news media.

According to Guerra, Riva-Soto was shot in the back twice, and he was shot after he was already down on the ground. Guerra appears to be very suspicious – even incredulous – of the official police version of events, and he’s taking his concerns to the media.

You’ll remember Mr. Guerra.

Last fall, we posted about Mr. Guerra’s charging then Vice-President Dick Cheney, and others, with responsibility for abuses in privately-run Texas prisons, and about the suspicious nature of his last campaign for a fourth term as district attorney of Willacy County where some were of the opinion that Guerra had been the victim of some manipulative tactics to get him out of office.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about the untimely death of Diego Rivas-Soto. And Juan Guerra.

Sources:

KRGV
http://www.krgv.com/news/local/story/Family-Of-Man-Shot-By-Police-File-Lawsuit/aiBZo2TZ9kab2AfJM_BXCg.cspx

The Monitor
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/shot-27789-attorney-suggests.html

The news reports are still somewhat sketchy at this point, but on Sunday night a man was obviously under the influence of something — drugs or alcohol — and some cops in Galveston County tried to bust him.

It happened in La Marque. It wasn’t that late — just a bit after nine o’clock last night. Media reports are that someone called the cops, complaining about this guy acting loopy.

LaMarque Cops Taser the Guy and He Dies

When the police found him, the guy was rolling around in a ditch near the intersection of Main and Lake. According to news reports, when local cops tried to bust him he fought back, and some cop decided to use the Taser.

So, the loopy guy got Tasered and that’s all we know. Except that apparently, things took a serious toll because the next thing we know at this point is that the man was taken to Mainland General Hospital — where he died.

Investigation of the Policemen Involved in this Incident Already Begun

The four cops at the scene have been placed on desk duty until an investigation is completed. According to the media, none of them have any serious injuries, but there may be an admission that they were checked out at the hospital, as well, last night.

Remember the Wedding Last March? Galveston Cops Already Have a National Reputation for Excessive Force

Last March, we posted about the wedding where Houston Astros pitcher Brandon Backe got busted in a ruckus at a wedding reception where there’s video of the Galveston cops using a stun gun on the father of the bride.

Remember the Police Chief last month who Tasered His Own Wife?

And, in April, we wrote about the Oakwood Police Chief who used a Taser on his own wife. Yep, his own wife.

Does anyone see a theme here? Maybe Texas legislators need to investigate a possible state-wide problem of Taser-happy cops?

Sources:

Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6429054.html

My Fox – Houston
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/090518_la_marque_police_death

ABC13
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6818024

What was Col. Stanley E. Clark possibly thinking when he was blowing kisses to female employees, touching them inappropriately, and calling one veteran employee “his girl”? Sometimes, you just gotta shake your head and wonder.

Here’s the story of how 60 year old Col. Clark made some really stupid choices.

The Texas Department of Public Safety is a big deal here in Texas. DPS issues all motor vehicle licenses for the State of Texas and it regulates all the motor vehicles in the State. Everyone residing and driving on Texas roads today (legally) has been okayed by DPS to do so.

DPS is the State’s Law Enforcement Agency, Responsible for Curtailing Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime Across the State

DPS is also responsible for statewide law enforcement. It’s the state cop agency.

The DPS Criminal Law Enforcement Division has a big job here in Texas, because it is the agency assigned the big job of dealing with drug trafficking and organized crime across the state. That’s a very, very big deal these days.

DPS also has a huge crime lab, which helps out other law enforcement agencies across the state. (How well it does this is a different post, for a different day.)

DPS is home to the Texas Rangers

And, DPS is home to the Texas Highway Patrol as well as the internationally known Texas Rangers. You know, the modern-day versions of Lonesome Dove’s Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae.

So, you get the idea. The Texas Department of Public Safety is one big, giganto deal to be assigned the job of overseeing. Big Kahuna time.

Once in a Lifetime Opportunity

And, when the Governor’s Mansion burned down last fall, the head of DPS retired and an interim director got to step up to the plate. That guy was Col. Stanley Clark, 60 years old, and here he was: running the Top Cop Shop in Texas.

Wow.

Here was a guy who was a lifer — he’d started as a highway patrolman 36 years ago, and risen through the ranks. A real American success story.

Now, less than a year after Clark got the Big New Job, a bunch of female employees have all filed statements against him, and characterizing Col. Clark has gone from a vision of John Wayne in The Comancheros to Jackie Gleason in Smokey and the Bandit.

Legislative Review of the Department of Public Safety

So, what happens now? Perhaps Col. Clark retires to his home in East Texas. Who knows who gets the Top Cop job next — but it’s already in the works that an Inspector General may be named, who would report any oversights within the agency to the Texas Legislature. And, there’s talk of a major overhaul of the entire DPS organization.

With Justice Keller and now Col. Clark, what IS the state of Texas criminal law today?

Sources:

Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-dps_05tex.ART.State.Edition2.4a5a490.html

Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6409776.html