TRI In The News
'Unfortunate' Mistake by Officers Makes Lufkin the Shame of America
8/1/2011
TRI IN THE NEWS: 'UNFORTUNATE' MISTAKE BY OFFICERS MAKES LUFKIN THE SHAME OF AMERICA
From The Star-Telegram
Original article available here.
To mark the death of Osama bin Laden, the mayor of the East Texas city of Lufkin declared "Pride in America Day."
Lufkin is now the shame of America.
A Lufkin man was convicted, fined and spent 25 days in jail for fighting police when they mistakenly charged into his home in the middle of a spring Sunday afternoon, chased him into a bathroom, pepper-sprayed him, batoned him and shot him with a pepper-ball gun.
Everyone agrees that what happened at Marco Sauceda's house on March 15, 2009, was a complete mix-up.
Police responded to a neighbor's call, saw a side door off its hinges and thought Sauceda was a burglar.
He thought they were there to make him leave America.
But what happened next was the worst mistake.
Instead of acknowledging the confusion, dropping the charges and offering thanks that nobody was more seriously hurt, police and Angelina County prosecutors jailed Sauceda anyway and used public time, money and resources to put him on trial.
Sauceda, 30 and described as having intellectual disabilities, faced a jury July 19.
Even the jurors sent Judge Derek Flournoy a note saying they believed that Sauceda was "wronged."
But they still convicted the 5-foot-6 Spanish-speaking Honduras native of fighting at least four English-speaking officers who entered his home, broke down the bathroom door and gassed him to arrest him on mistaken suspicion of burglary.
The punishment was left to the judge. For being home on a Sunday afternoon and resisting arrest, Sauceda wound up sentenced to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.
(Sauceda was released immediately based on credit for time served.)
Defense attorney Ryan Deaton's words went unheard: "A person should feel secure in their own home."
Constitutionalists and the Rutherford Institute have taken note, along with civil-rights activists.
Rutherford's John Whitehead wrote: "Anyone with an ounce of sense would recognize that there's something wrong when an innocent man with the mental acuity of a child is not only subjected to a warrantless invasion of his home by police officers but is physically brutalized by those same government agents and then forced to serve time for resisting arrest."
Police say Sauceda told one officer that he feared being deported. But he has not been accused of an immigration violation.
He has been a Lufkin resident at least three years. He did not hesitate to talk with police in August when his bicycle was stolen.
Mayor Jack Gorden called the mistake "unfortunate."
He said police were "doing what they're paid to do, and that's to protect our citizens."
This is not what America calls protection.
