Police Shooting in Bellaire (Houston: crime, home, license plate)

[Chicagoaklandish]

With this and the recent murder of an unarmed black man in my town of Oakland.. it seems the cops have put faith in the Notorious B.I.G.'s motto "Shoot first ask questions last."


Lock the bastard up for 5 years minimum, if any civilian did this we would be behind bars right now.

[azriverfan.]

The latest episode of "REAL Sports with Bryant Gumble", the emmy winning show on HBO, documented this today. To summarize the show, Robbie Tolan grew up in Bellaire and was the son of an upper middle class African American family living in Bellaire. He was a good student and later played professional baseball for the Washington Nationals. His father was a former professional baseball player in the late 60's and early 70's and played for the Cincinatti Reds. Robbie was pulled over on Dec 31st in the late evening. It isn't stated why he was pulled over. The police found nothing wrong with him and agreed to follow him to his house. As they did this, they erroneously entered the wrong plate number and came up with a stolen car which they acknowledge. When they arrived at Robbie's house, the police, under the false impression that he was a thief, asked him to drop to the ground on the lawn of his house. Robbie did so and his parents came out of their house to see what was going on. The police then asked his father to stand against his car in the driveway with his hands against his back. The other office then held his mother in the same manner against the garage but had done so with enough force to bruise her arm and alert Robbie. Robbie lost it and in anger said: "Get your f'ing hands of my mother" The police officer then shot Robbie in the chest injuring him but not killing him. During the aftermath, the mayor of Bellaire didn't apologize to the family. They also published a false report saying the police officers involved had clean records when Real Sports found they had multiple reports. Officer Edwards had been reprimanded 6 times without pay, one time for sexual harrassment charges and Officer Cotton, the shooter, was reprimanded 3 times once for misleading investigators in a 2002 traffic accident, one of three accidents that he caused.

Furthermore, they had interesting stats showing that an African American was 12 times more likely to get pulled over in Bellaire than a Caucasian. In Houston, they were 4 times more likely to be pulled over. Furthermore, African Americans make up only 1 percent of Belllaire's population of 16,000 yet made up 39% of the motorists stopped and searched there in 2007. Furthermore, Robbie Tolan was pulled over for no document reason and his plates were searched for no apparent reason either.

I don't live in Houston but I was appalled and disappointed by this incident. I know that racial profiling probably occurs in every large metropolitan area. However, what is striking about this particular case is that it occurred in an affluent and well educated area of Bellaire to an respectable and reputable family in the community. And what was more shocking was the Mayor of Bellair's indifference and lack of empathy in the case. For a city like Houston who claims it's different from it's southern neighbors and should be viewed as a progressive city, it seems like it is still living in the traditions of the old South.

Here is a CNN article detailing the account

Questions surround shooting of baseballer's son - CNN.com

[jfre81]

Some thoughts:

1) Robbie Tolan Jr. (the shooting victim) did not play for the Washington Nationals. He played in their minor league system in 2007 and then for the independent Bay Area Toros in Texas City last year. His father, however, did play in the big leagues from 1965-79.

2) I guess you're clear on the fact that Bellaire is a separate city from Houston with its own mayor, police force etc. ftr, I'd like to see the whole lot of them cleaned out from there over this. Those pigs* don't deserve to be a goddamned hall monitor at the local junior high let alone an armed police officer on the streets, and the mayor who oversees that department shouldn't even hold the office of dog catcher.

3) This is not just a Southern thing. It's here, it's in Phoenix - hell, it's in New York City. Do any of these names ring a bell: Sean Bell? Amadou Diallo? Abner Louima? Guess who at NYPD was held responsible for those atrocities? Nobody. And unlike Bell and Diallo, Tolan is alive. So we can throw this "Old South" drivel out the window right there.

*I know there are police officers reading. They know whether they're good cops or lowlife thugs with badges. If you're the former, I wholeheartedly appreciate what you do. If you're the latter, you are scum and your despicable ilk get good cops killed.

[usc619]

Remember this is still the SOUTH!

[bostoner]

Last three posts moved to existing thread.

[dcoolbro]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

The latest episode of "REAL Sports with Bryant Gumble", the emmy winning show on HBO, documented this today. To summarize the show, Robbie Tolan grew up in Bellaire and was the son of an upper middle class African American family living in Bellaire. He was a good student and later played professional baseball for the Washington Nationals. His father was a former professional baseball player in the late 60's and early 70's and played for the Cincinatti Reds. Robbie was pulled over on Dec 31st in the late evening. It isn't stated why he was pulled over. The police found nothing wrong with him and agreed to follow him to his house. As they did this, they erroneously entered the wrong plate number and came up with a stolen car which they acknowledge. When they arrived at Robbie's house, the police, under the false impression that he was a thief, asked him to drop to the ground on the lawn of his house. Robbie did so and his parents came out of their house to see what was going on. The police then asked his father to stand against his car in the driveway with his hands against his back. The other office then held his mother in the same manner against the garage but had done so with enough force to bruise her arm and alert Robbie. Robbie lost it and in anger said: "Get your f'ing hands of my mother" The police officer then shot Robbie in the chest injuring him but not killing him. During the aftermath, the mayor of Bellaire didn't apologize to the family. They also published a false report saying the police officers involved had clean records when Real Sports found they had multiple reports. Officer Edwards had been reprimanded 6 times without pay, one time for sexual harrassment charges and Officer Cotton, the shooter, was reprimanded 3 times once for misleading investigators in a 2002 traffic accident, one of three accidents that he caused.

Furthermore, they had interesting stats showing that an African American was 12 times more likely to get pulled over in Bellaire than a Caucasian. In Houston, they were 4 times more likely to be pulled over. Furthermore, African Americans make up only 1 percent of Belllaire's population of 16,000 yet made up 39% of the motorists stopped and searched there in 2007. Furthermore, Robbie Tolan was pulled over for no document reason and his plates were searched for no apparent reason either.

I don't live in Houston but I was appalled and disappointed by this incident. I know that racial profiling probably occurs in every large metropolitan area. However, what is striking about this particular case is that it occurred in an affluent and well educated area of Bellaire to an respectable and reputable family in the community. And what was more shocking was the Mayor of Bellair's indifference and lack of empathy in the case. For a city like Houston who claims it's different from it's southern neighbors and should be viewed as a progressive city, it seems like it is still living in the traditions of the old South.

Here is a CNN article detailing the account

Questions surround shooting of baseballer's son - CNN.com

azriverfan, you seem to be intent on making Houston, and the south in general this dark evil place. The incident in Bellaire was sad and unfortunate, but it is certainly not unique to Houston. There is a number of similar incidents that have occured in so called "progressive" cities like New York, L.A., and let's not forget the recent shooting incident in the Bay Area where the boy was shot and killed at the train station by a police officer for no reason. Maybe it's time you get off your anti-southern kick and look to some of these other "progressive" places.

[pleasesaythe4th]

Moderator cut: personal attack

the racist cops come in this guys yard with guns drawn talking about a stolen car

A. The car belonged to the shooting victim
B. His PARENTS were outside saying the car was his
C. The car was NEVER reported stolen
d. He didnt resist the "officers"


i can't stand most cops because usually theyre the kids that were lames in school and they got no respect. joining the police force is the only way a lot of these people can have a sense of power. its pathetic.

[MrSykes]

Oh man, I couldn't stand that sorry excuse for a mayor.

At every turn she took every chance to stick up for that "cop", sorry shooter.
And when Gumbel even pressed her to "put herself in Mrs. Tolan's shoes", instead of a sympathetic and thoughtful analysis about being a mother witnessing her son about to lose his life at the hands of a racist piece of bacon, she had the nerve to mention her nephew's tendency to "smart off" at those in authority.

Are you freakin' kidding me?

I applaud Gumbel for making her look like the racist sympathizer she is. I always liked his style.

Seems to be the cop only shot Tolan because he couldn't stand to have a black "boy" cuss at him, even after seeing his own mother being senselessly and brutally roughed up.

God this p's me off!

[pleasesaythe4th]

Originally Posted by MrSykes

Oh man, I couldn't stand that sorry excuse for a mayor.

At every turn she took every chance to stick up for that "cop", sorry shooter.
And when Gumbel even pressed her to "put herself in Mrs. Tolan's shoes", instead of a sympathetic and thoughtful analysis about being a mother witnessing her son about to lose his life at the hands of a racist piece of bacon, she had the nerve to mention her nephew's tendency to "smart off" at those in authority.

Are you freakin' kidding me?

I applaud Gumbel for making her look like the racist sympathizer she is. I always liked his style.

Seems to be the cop only shot Tolan because he couldn't stand to have a black "boy" cuss at him, even after seeing his own mother being senselessly and brutally roughed up.

God this p's me off!

most of the posters in this thread are no different, talking about hes "ghetto" (as if that gives this cop a right to shoot him) when he's from bellaire

pathetic

[LostInHouston]

Sure is nice to see some info coming out on this (no thanks to the Bellaire PD/mayor who are obviously trying to save their hides). Looks like most people's initial reactions were right on in that this is a clear case of racial profiling (DWB). Now lets hope something is done about it.