Thread: Illegal Immigrant charged in death of Houston Policeman

Sept. 22, 2006, 2:16PM
Illegal immigrant charged in HPD shooting death


By JENNIFER LEAHY, JAMES NIELSEN and MIKE TOLSON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

A 32-year-old illegal immigrant has been charged in Thursday evening's shooting death of Houston Police Officer Rodney Johnson.

Juan Leonardo Quintero has been charged with capital murder in the 248th District Court, said HPD spokesman John Cannon.

The suspect is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who has been deported in the past and sometimes expressed concern about immigration officials and worried that he should return, his wife, Theresa Quintero, said in an interview today at their home near Hobby Airport.

Mrs. Quintero said the couple has been married since 1997.

The HPD spokesman Cannon said the suspect gave "a full confession" to the shooting.

A Harris County prosecutor said in court this morning that, while seated in the back seat, the suspect pulled a 9 mm handgun from his waistband and shot Johnson in the face. The officer was able to push an emergency response button, alerting dispatch of a problem.

When other police arrived at the scene, Quintero remained in the back seat with the gun in his hand, the prosecutor said. Police found bullet casings inside the car.

Quintero kept his head down while waiting to be called before the judge. During a brief hearing, he answered "Yes'' when asked whether he understood the charge against him.

Quintero's record shows he received deferred adjudication for a 1998 charge of indecency with a child, according to Harris County records.

Also on his record are a 1996 charge of driving with a suspended license, a misdemeanor, and a driving while intoxicated conviction in 1995.

The simple traffic stop turned suddenly tragic Thursday evening when the veteran Houston police officer was shot and killed as he sat in the front seat of his patrol car near Hobby Airport.

Just after 5 p.m., Johnson had stopped a pickup with two people inside. It was unclear why he detained or handcuffed the driver, though an officer familiar with the incident said he had no identification on him. At least one female passenger left, possibly with Johnson's permission, but Police Chief Harold Hurtt said he thought officers had found the woman and were bringing her to headquarters for questioning.

A source familiar with the scene said Johnson was shot four times through the plastic shield separating the front and rear seats. Johnson managed to push his emergency button before collapsing. The 12-year veteran of the department was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The suspect reportedly struggled as officers tried to move him to a different vehicle.

"They finally got him in the other car, but he was scratching and fighting and acting crazy, like he could win in a fight like that," said Clara Rodriguez, who lives nearby.

Johnson, 40, was the first HPD officer killed in more than two years.

"He was very personable," Hurtt said. "We will miss one of our true soldiers in Rodney Johnson."

At least a dozen law enforcement vehicles cordoned off a large area at Randolph and Braniff where the light bar atop Johnson's patrol car continued to flash long after the shooting. Temporary spotlights illuminated the scene into the evening as evidence technicians scoured the area. The owner of a nearby machine shop was called to the scene because bullets apparently pierced the wall of his building and investigators needed to get inside.

Before the suspect was taken to HPD headquarters, he was stripped of his clothes, which were placed in evidence bags, and dressed in a white jumpsuit. He was then taken downtown in the second of three patrol cars that left the scene shortly after 7 p.m.


'It just breaks my heart'
As news of Johnson's death spread, police officers gathered in small groups but said little. One HPD sergeant walked to a patrol car, took out his cell phone and made a quick phone call, taking a long drink of cold water from a bottle.

"Something real bad has happened by the airport," he said.

Rodriguez said that she and her neighbors in the small subdivision between Telephone Road and Almeda Genoa knew Johnson well and that he was well-liked.

"He would always wave and smile when he saw me," Rodriguez said. "He was a real nice guy. All he was trying to do was enforce the rules."

Rodriguez said Johnson stopped her once for speeding when the speed limit was lowered on Telephone Road. She said he politely asked her to slow down and did not ticket her.

"He was just so very nice," she said. "He was not ever mean. It just breaks my heart. I feel so very bad for his wife. He got up and went to work this morning, and this is what happened. This is what happened to one of the people who protects us, who truly took care of us."

Johnson graduated from high school in Oakland, Calif., then enlisted in the Army, serving as an MP until he was honorably discharged in 1990. He served as a corrections officer for the Texas Department of Corrections (now the Texas Department of Criminal Justice) and as a Houston police jailer before attending the police academy and graduating in 1994.

Johnson was assigned to the southeast division that year and to the southeast gang task force in 1996. While on the task force he received two Lifesaving Awards from the department and one Medal of Valor from the state. He was married to Houston police officer Joslyn Johnson. They have three daughters and two sons.

The The 100 Club is issuing a $10,000 check to Johnson's family for any immediate costs associated with his death and will provide the family with further assistance later.

The group's Survivor’s Fund provides benefits to the dependents of peace officers and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty.


A familiar scene
Thursday's incident was similar to the shooting of Houston police officer G.P. Gaddis in 1994. Gaddis was murdered by one of two aggravated robbery suspects he was taking to jail for aggravated robbery. Both had been searched and handcuffed behind their backs before being placed in the back seat of the patrol car.

Edgar Arias Tamayo managed to maneuver his hands, still cuffed, to his front and retrieved a pistol hidden in his clothes. He then shot Gaddis in the back of the head as he was driving. The patrol car crashed into a house, and the suspect escaped from the wrecked car, but was arrested nearby.

Tamayo was convicted of capital murder and is on death row. The shooting prompted criticism of the department by police union officials who claimed Gaddis' death could have been prevented if patrol units carried two officers.

According to a police department patrol veteran, within the past two years all HPD officers were required to attend an in-service training refresher class on proper search technique. However, he said, the unique circumstances of each incident dictate how thoroughly a suspect is searched. Search procedures also are outlined in the department's general orders manual, the officer said.

"The degree of search can range from a strip search to a cursory pat-down," said the officer, who requested anonymity out fear of departmental reprisals. "If the person is just a witness or if (the stop) is just a traffic violation, you might just put them in the back of your (patrol) car to do the paperwork. If the suspect is high risk or wanted on a felony, then you need to do more than a pat-down. But even then, you can still miss a weapon. It's part of the job. And this isn't the first time an officer has been killed with a suspect in the back seat."

Nor was it out of the ordinary for a one-man patrol unit such as Johnson to arrest one or more suspects without calling for backup, the officer said.

In the estimation of the officer, the department's well-publicized staffing shortage leaves approximately 80 percent of all HPD patrol units with a single officer. There is no protocol mandating that single-patrol officers call for backup while making arrests, he added.

"If we called for backup every time we made an arrest, nothing would get done," the officer said. "Lots of officers arrest multiple suspects by themselves. But would it be safer with two officers? Absolutely."

News of Johnson's death hit the department hard, especially Hans Marticiuc, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, who said he was a close friend.

"He was very, very safety conscious," Marticiuc said. "He knows how to search. He worked in the jail for a number of years and all they do is search prisoners down there. "

Johnson served on the union's board of directors.


Other officer deaths
The last Houston police officer killed in the line of duty was Frank M. Cantu, who was hit by a drunk driver in Montrose in March 2004. The driver was charged with intoxication manslaughter.

Three officers have been wounded in shootings since then, however. The most recent occurred in January 2005 in west Houston. Officer Ronald V. Pinkerton was shot twice as he approached a vehicle that had rear-ended him.

The last fatal shooting of a Houston police officer involved Charles R. Clark in 2003. Clark, a 20-year veteran, was killed while responding to a silent alarm at a check cashing store on South Loop 610.

In July 2005, 33-year-old reserve Deputy Constable Nehemiah Pickens was killed by friendly fire during a chase in northeast Houston. Pickens, who was armed but not in uniform, was shot four times in the back by a deputy sheriff.

About 100 Houston police officers have been killed in the line of duty since 1860.

Chronicle reporters Eric Hanson, Steve McVicker, Anne Marie Kilday, Peggy O'Hare, Jennifer Radcliffe, Mike Glenn and Todd Ackerman contributed to this report.

mike.tolson@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4206756.html

Was this illegal deported and kept coming back or did they just allow him to stay in the country? The illegals as just as bad as gang members as many of them have guns illegally as well. The media has to print these stories in the headlines just as they do with the bleeding heart ones.

I am surprised the officer did not conduct at least at pat down before placing him in the car. If he did that then he would be alive.

And why do we care what this slime's wife has to say? Who cares that he was married. The writer of this article is ridiculous.

If he was so worried about his wife, then he shouldn't have shot the officer in the first place. We shouldn't give his wife any sympathy and send her back to Mexico!

I can see this invader's defense already.He was from a poor family,was abused,and had a difficult childhood,which all caused him to be mentally unstable.

Every excuse in the world and the finest lawers available will pull out all the stops to keep him free and on the street.

Every politician that encourages illegals should feel mighty low about this illegal who's "just here looking for a better life" according to them.

The encouraging and enabling of illegals can put citizens lives in mortal danger as this incident shows.

"If we called for backup every time we made an arrest, nothing would get done," the officer said. "Lots of officers arrest multiple suspects by themselves. But would it be safer with two officers? Absolutely."

And there it is. Years ago to cut costs departments went to one officer in a vehicle. Policing has not been very effective since then. This officer and many others died to balance the budget. How about we kill a social program or two for illegal aliens and properly fund law enforcement?

I agree with cutting social program to illegals as they are getting too much already. Not only would we svae money but also discourage illegals from coming.
As for one officer in a vehicle as opposed to two man units; this decision was made as studies proved that one man units were assaulted less often and had less resistance to arrest. One man units also made more arrests and wrote more repots than two man units. A fact most people don't know is that there are calls where 2 cars are sent out and others where only one goes to a call due to safety issues. Traffic stops are one man calls. It is up to the officer's discretion to ask for back up. Usually if you run the tags as the vehicle is being driven and find out the driver has a warrant for their arrest or suspended or no driver's license most officers will call for back up. On a traffic stop an officer has to give the dispatcher his location, the vehicle tag number and the color and make of the vehicle. If the officer is on the call for a certain amount of time, the dispatcher will raise that officer to make sure they are okay. Should there be no answer, they immediately send out numerous back up units.

You have to watch out for your own safety and there are many male and some female officers that think that nothing will happen to them and do not take precautions. These are the ones who get shot at and/or killed.

I don't know about the studies. You'd be more up on that. However, those studies of two officer cars would have to be close to 40 years old now. I think it's a much different world we have now. I never heard of a traffic stop many years ago that would produce 14 or more occupants for one officer to control. I believe the one officer car should be re-examinrd.
This case is very confusing. Why wasn't this guy searched? Just read that he was cuffed, but he must have had his hands in front rather tha behind his back? Why?

It may be time to start searching illegal aliens before they get locked in the back of vehicles. They may yell racism but it may be time they get searched like the rest of us. I pretty sure I've seen footage of the border patrol rounding up groups of illegal aliens and loading them in the back of trucks with all of their luggage. It sort of gives you the creeps.

All of the gain the criminals in government and criminals in business made isn't worth the life of this one officer. Not to me anyway. I suppose it is to them. They don't seem to be letting up any.

According to the 2005 Florida Law Enforcement Handbook: "When a lawful arrest is made without a warrant, an officer may search the person arrested and the area within his or her immediate control, which means the area immediately surrounding the person where the person might gain possession of a weapon or evidence which can be destroyed." This law is a federal one and obviously applies to all states.

As for Border Patrol not searching illegals and allowing them to carry their own belongings would give me reason to believe that the guns they obtain are not smuggled in with them from Mexico or where ever they came from. The illegals must get their illegal guns here. If you think about it, there have not been any reports of Border Patrol Agents shot and/or killed.