Paul Alper points us to this horrifying story of our modern world:
A former Houston police captain, who the authorities said was investigating a voter fraud conspiracy theory for a conservative activist group, was arrested and charged with pointing his gun at an air-conditioner repairman he had pursued to try to uncover fraudulent ballots, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The former captain, Mark A. Aguirre, 63, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and then freed on $30,000 bail, on Tuesday.
According to a police affidavit, Mr. Aguirre struck the repairman’s box truck with his sport utility vehicle on the morning of Oct. 19. When the man got out of his truck, Mr. Aguirre pointed a handgun at him, ordered him to get on the ground and pressed a knee into his back, it said.
Other people who arrived searched the repairman’s truck for ballots and, finding none, drove it away, the repairman said, according to the affidavit. The truck was found abandoned nearby.
Wait a minute! This guy held someone up at gunpoint, then other people stole this guy’s truck . . . and they didn’t arrest the perp for 2 months?? And the bail is only $30,000? Pointing a gun at someone is pretty serious, no?
Also this:
Terry W. Yates, a lawyer representing Mr. Aguirre, questioned why the charges were not filed until nearly two months after the episode.
“It’s a political prosecution,” Mr. Yates said, adding that the confrontation on Oct. 19 began as a fender-bender and was now being used to undermine the Liberty Center. “The powers that be in Harris County are attempting to use this as a diversionary tactic to show there’s no voter fraud here, which is ridiculous,” he said.
This just baffles me further. Holding up someone with a gun and stealing his truck . . . that’s illegal no?
And then this:
The Houston police said in a statement that “a lengthy investigation by H.P.D. determined allegations of election fraud were unfounded and no evidence of illegal ballots was found” before the case was referred to the district attorney’s office.
What the hell? You can hold someone up at gunpoint and if you just say “illegal ballots” the cops will let you stay free for two months until they have time for a lengthy investigation?
And then this:
On the day of the confrontation, the repairman initially thought he was being robbed and feared for his life, according to an affidavit from Detective John Varela of the Houston Police Department.
Mr. Aguirre told Detective Varela that he and the Liberty Center had been investigating a ballot harvesting conspiracy, according to the affidavit, and that he and his friends had been surveilling the repairman’s home for four days.
B-b-but . . . his lawyer said it was a fender-bender! Which is it, a fender-bender or was he staking out the guy for days before assaulting him?
OK, here’s the story:
Mr. Aguirre said that he had been conducting surveillance when he accidentally crashed into the repairman’s truck, adding that he then got out of his vehicle and pointed his gun at the repairman, according to the affidavit.
That’s a pretty unusual fender-bender, when it’s the crasher, not the crashee who pulls out the gun.
I still can’t figure out why it took them 2 months to arrest this guy or why they gave him such a low bail. He’s going around threatening people with a gun!