now, according to the latest info, they were conducting TABC raids on 3 bars that night. but, seriously. they picked THIS night to go unannounced into a prominent gay bar and use unnecessary force on cooperative patrons?
check out the dallas voice for more details. they’ve kept a good running commentary, including eyewitness accounts and info on one person who ended up in ICU after having his head slammed into the ground.
Dallas Voice: You’ve Gotta Be Shitting Me
dym-sum has some good personal accounts up.
ETA: speak out at buzzbrews on lemmon tomorrow! details below!
SPEAK YOUR MIND!
Chuck Potter and Todd Camp were both at the Rainbow Lounge in Fort Worth around 1 a.m. Sunday morning, June 28, when it was raided by Fort Worth police officers and agents with the TABC. Seven people were arrested and one man remains hospitalized with a serious head injury that may require surgery as a result of the raid — which by the way, happened on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion.
Potter, Camp and many others were outraged by what has been described as the officers’ brutality during the raid, and by what appeared to many as nothing more than an effort to harass management, staff and patrons at the newly-opened nightclub. Potter and Camp organized rallies on Sunday that drew as many as 200 people to the steps of the Tarrant County Courthouse to protest the raid.
Now Chuck Potter and Todd Camp are coming to Dallas Voice’s monthly “Freedom of Speech Night” on Tuesday, June 30, to talk about what happened. We want you to come, too, to get information and to give your opinion.
Come on out and exercise your freedom of speech!
Tuesday, June 30
8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.Buzzbrews Kitchen @ 4334 Lemmon Avenue
I read the FWSTelegram article…there are two very different accounts being reported. I wish I knew more about the inspection process and what the appropriate actions/steps/protocol are. I know about the fire marshal inspections, but not TABC. The article says the guy whose head was hurt grabbed a police officer’s crotch…that would definitely give them reason to take him into custody forcefully. But I’m glad people are calling for an investigation – the accounts seem to differ wildly. I hope the truth comes out, cause if the police were in the wrong, they were in the WAY wrong!
i’ve read a lot of the eye-witness accounts and they say that the cops pretty much came in and starting jerking people around. also, grabbing a crotch is NOT grounds for getting your head slammed into the ground, period. it’s not like he got a little knocked around, either. he’s in ICU getting brain surgery. i’m not defending the guy’s actions if he did it, but the cops seem to have acted WAY over the top. think about how they guard someone’s head when they’re putting them into the back of the car. the police are NEVER supposed to hurt someone except in self-defense.
i think the thing to look at is the difference in the raids. none of the other bars that were raided have ANY reports of excessive force. even if people were making sexual gestures, that’s not grounds for what they did. and if they claim it is, there’s a whole history of people claiming the “gay panic” defense which is pure b.s.
also, i don’t mean to come off as yelling at you. you know i appreciate your perspective on things, right?
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