Department still looking for closure - Deadly 1999 raid has led to departure of 12

By Ben Tinsley
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS More than five years after a high-profile, fatal police shooting, a dozen officers, supervisors and investigators connected to the tragedy have left the department.

City and department leaders say the drug raid -- during which an officer killed the 25-year-old son of a true-crime writer -- has been difficult for the agency to overcome.

At the very least, it was among the most serious in a series of troubling police episodes that have culminated with a change in department leadership.

Relatives of Troy Davis are still pressing claims in federal court that officers used excessive force and violated his civil rights.

When former Irving police Lt. Jimmy Perdue takes control of the department Monday, he'll find an agency eager to restore its public image, North Richland Hills police officers say.

"We're excited about getting a new moving in a positive direction," said Greg Trickey, president of the Fraternal Order of Police lodge for the North Richland Hills department. "He's a really strong leader, which is what we are looking for."

In all, 12 officers have left since the 1999 raid -- a turnover of more than a 10th of the department's authorized force of 109 officers. Among them:

• Allen Hill, who shot and killed Davis, the son of author Barbara Davis. Hill resigned five months after the shooting. He told the Star-Telegram at the time that he was being harassed by his superiors. He could not be located recently to comment.

• Detective Edwin Luna, who resigned in late February after being caught viewing pornography on a city computer. He maintained the crime-scene log for the Davis shooting investigation and has not been reached for comment.

• Detective Timothy Gilpin, who resigned in April 2003. Gilpin said he was forced out because of testimony he provided in the Davis case. In his resignation letter, he said he was leaving so that he would no longer be subjected to retaliation, harassment, intolerable working conditions and character assassinations. He is now a Fort Worth lawyer.

• Sgt. John "Andy" Wallace, who was in charge of the SWAT team and special investigative unit at the time of the raid. Wallace retired in May.

• Police Chief Tom Shockley, who retired in January after more than 25 years with the department. His retirement came a month after he was suspended without pay for erratic driving that he attributed to prescription medication.

Correlation questioned

City Manager Larry Cunningham believes that the departures are unrelated -- that there is no correlation between them and the Davis shooting.

"Any organization experiences turnover, and the turnover in past years has not been excessive," he said. "A department operates as a unit, and there will be other people behind those who leave who are knowledgeable about what's going on and they can carry on."

Yet Cunningham and City Attorney George Staples said experienced officers such as Wallace will be missed. Staples said he was surprised when Wallace, in particular, chose to retire.

Shockley, in an e-mail interview, disputed suggestions that any officer was prompted to leave by difficult working conditions.

"I do not agree with Mr. Gilpin nor do I know of the situation with Luna," Shockley said. "I do not believe, however, that any of the circumstances have anything to do with the Davis case and will not have any impact on the case."

Regardless of turnover, North Richland Hills residents have not complained about or commented on any changes in the Police Department at City Council meetings, city spokeswoman Mary Edwards said.

The inside politics of the Police Department may simply be too complicated to garner much interest from the public, said Allan Saxe, an associate professor of political science at the University of Texas at Arlington.

"Whenever you have a complex issue like this -- where rumors and innuendo are involved -- people are reluctant to involve themselves and turn away because it's so hard to understand," Saxe said. "That's not good citizenship, but it is human. Who needs any more problems?"

Raid turns deadly

Troy Davis' death was the second time in recent memory that an on-duty North Richland Hills police officer had killed a civilian.

The first was Oct. 7, 1985, when officer Edward R. Lynn's shotgun discharged and killed Manuel Fernandez, a 25-year-old from Fort Worth, during an arrest after a high-speed chase.

Lynn -- who was allowed to remain on the force after he completed a one-year probationary term -- had only a limited role in the Davis investigation. He quit Feb. 28, 2003, citing personal reasons. He did not mention the 1985 shooting in his resignation letter.

Plans for the raid began after police received a tip from Bob Davis, Troy Davis' uncle, that marijuana was being grown in a closet at the house where Troy Davis lived with his mother. Bob Davis had been involved in a long-running dispute with Barbara Davis, his sister-in-law.

After two tries, Andy Wallace, the sergeant in charge of both the SWAT team and the narcotics squad, obtained a no-knock search warrant. On Dec. 15, 1999, a team of 17 tactical officers set up for the raid at the Davis home in the 8200 block of Ulster Drive. Officers believed Troy Davis had weapons and was dangerous.

Once inside, officers said, Troy Davis pointed a loaded 9 mm pistol at them. Hill fired the fatal shot.

Later, investigators found 16 guns, all legally possessed, at the Davis home. Police found three marijuana plants in pots in the backyard; a plastic bag containing a green, leafy substance in a bedroom; and five pill bottles and film canisters containing marijuana seeds in a bedroom.

But Barbara Davis, who was home at the time of the raid, has long contended that her son was not armed when he was killed and that police placed the gun near his body. A Tarrant County grand jury declined to indict Hill in the shooting.

The dispute moved to federal court in May 2000, when Troy Davis' estate sued the city over the shooting. North Richland Hills has asked a federal judge to find that the case lacks merit and dismiss it. The judge is expected to rule this fall.

The fallout from the raid was dramatic.

Barbara Davis -- best known for her book Precious Angels about Darlie Routier, the Rowlett woman on Death Row accused of killing her two young sons in 1996 -- posted messages decrying the Police Department on the Internet, allegations she repeated in numerous media interviews.

The aftermath

Some former North Richland Hills officers said the fallout from the shooting led them to resign. Others and some department observers say that Shockley tried to distance the department from the shooting, but that at the same time he was being unusually harsh with several of the officers involved in the case. Throughout the aftermath, the city and department have uniformly maintained that the case was not mishandled.

For years, the department had trouble moving past the shooting -- at least as far as the former chief's handling of the aftermath was concerned, said Kevin Brown, a patrol officer who has been on the force for 13 years.

"The attitude I perceived from Shockley was if he were to make changes and move forward, then he would somehow be admitting the situation had been handled wrong," Brown said.

Brown was placed on paid leave for 15 days and reassigned from police detective to patrol officer in March 2003 for disclosing information related to the Davis shooting to two officers, Allen Hill and Greg Crane, who provided the information to lawyers representing Barbara Davis.

Gilpin said the Davis shooting caused department morale to plummet.

"It didn't seem like the rank and file trusted the administration after that," said Gilpin, a criminal defense lawyer who has been practicing for the past 10 months. He obtained his law degree after attending Texas Wesleyan University between 1999 and 2003.

Robert Taylor, chairman of the University of North Texas' criminal justice department, said the aftermath of the shooting was a difficult time for the Police Department.

"There was a lack of leadership, a lack of direction, and the department kind of floundered," said Taylor, who has tracked developments in North Richland Hills through newspaper accounts. Taylor also has known the incoming chief for nearly 12 years, having met him at a law enforcement institute in Collin County.

Gregory Stilley, a former North Richland Hills tactical officer, said he left in July 2002 because he was not pleased with the way the administration reacted to the shooting, pointing fingers at one another and not taking responsibility. He said the incident divided the agency.

"You can look at the history of an agency and you'll find that line," Stilley said. "I don't think anyone who was there then, who has left, or even now, would dispute that."

Gregory Crane, a supervisor in the Davis raid who resigned from the department in June 2002, said he quit because there was "nothing honorable" about working there after the Davis shooting, which he believes the department mishandled.

Crane said he believes that Hill, the shooter, did his job that day, but that the department was wrong to dispatch anyone to the Davis home at all based on the tipster's information.

Brian Petty, a former North Richland Hills tactical officer who resigned in September 2000, said Hill's departure -- after he had been no-billed by a grand jury -- upset some of his fellow officers.

"It leaves a sour taste in your mouth to see that you can do the job you're trained for and still end up in the wrong," said Petty, who resigned after supervisors accused him of lying about report paperwork. "I'm not saying he was right or wrong, but there are some people who think he's a villain and some who think he's a saint. There's not a lot of middle ground."

Petty said the Davis shooting stirred turmoil in the department -- as would any department in similar circumstances.

Since the 1999 shooting, Trickey said, North Richland Hills has had difficulty recruiting qualified police candidates. Some officers who might be lured to the city from smaller agencies have been reluctant to come, he added.

"The consensus has been that they don't want to come to a department that appears to be in 'trouble,' " he said.

But a new chief should change that, Trickey said.

Leadership change

Mickey Shelley, president of the nearly 100-member North Richland Hills Police Association, said Perdue is well-respected within the Irving Police Department and is considered a law enforcement administrator of the highest caliber.

"There's a real feeling of excitement," Shelley said.

Officers expect Perdue to be a leader who stays in touch with the front lines, said Brown, the patrol officer.

"We have been lacking that the last few years," Brown said. "He's the kind of person who listens to the ideas we have instead of shooting them down."

Taylor, of UNT, said Perdue will involve the community in department efforts. He expects Perdue to build an effective partnership between police and residents.

"He will make changes with this community-based approach, and he will be very solid," he said. "North Richland Hills is lucky they got him."

Perdue said he is looks forward to the challenges.

"The officers of North Richland Hills are a group of very good, dedicated officers -- an excellent police department that has had difficulties and needs to prove to the community they have their best interests at heart."

Officers tell how raid changed force

These North Richland Hills police officers have left the employ of the city since the Dec. 15, 1999, drug raid that led to the shooting death of Troy Davis, 25:

• Former Police Chief Thomas Shockley -- Retired Jan. 5, nearly a month after he was suspended for erratic driving. Was in charge during the raid.

• Former officer Allen Hill -- Resigned from the department in May 2000, five months after he shot and killed Troy Davis during the SWAT team no-knock drug raid at the Davis house. He told the Star-Telegram that he quit because he was being harassed by his superiors.

• Sgt. John "Andy" Wallace -- Retired in May, offering no particular reason. Supervisor in charge of the SWAT team at the time of the raid, as well as heading the special investigative unit.

• Edwin D. Luna -- Resigned from the city in late February after being caught accessing online pornography while working at city computers. Maintained the crime-scene log at the scene of the raid.

• Timothy Burch, a four-year officer with the department -- Fired in October 2002 for having an affair during his lunch breaks and for mishandling a stolen-car case. Was not directly involved in the Davis case.

• Gregory J. Crane -- Resigned in June 2002. A supervisor for the Davis raid. He said he quit the department because there was "nothing honorable" about working there after the raid, which he believes should never been conducted.

• Timothy Gilpin -- Quit in April 2003. Gilpin said he was forced out by department heads because of testimony he gave in the Davis case.

• Gregory Stilley -- Quit the department in July 2002. A detective and tactical team member on the Davis case. He said he quit because he was not pleased with the negative effect that the Davis shooting had on the department.

• Brian Petty -- Retired in September 2000. Not directly involved in the Davis case but said he also saw the negative effect it had on the department. The officer said he resigned at the request of supervisors after he was caught lying about whether he had filled out reports.

• Bob Curtis -- Quit in January 2001, citing "personal reasons." Curtis was involved in limited capacity with the department's criminal investigation division investigation of the Davis case.

• Steven E. Carney -- Retired in January 2004 without citing any reasons. Involved in the raid as a CID sergeant in the Davis case.

• Detective Edward R. Lynn -- Quit Feb. 28, 2003, citing personal reasons. Had a limited role in the Davis investigation. In an unrelated case, he was convicted of negligent homicide for the accidental shotgun killing of a man he was frisking in 1985. He was allowed to remain on the force after he completed a one-year probation.

SOURCES: Documents submitted to the City of North Richland Hills, officer resignations and Star-Telegram archives.

Davis lawsuit timeline

A timeline of the Troy Davis lawsuit against North Richland Hills.

December 1999 -- SWAT team officer Allen Hill shoots and kills Troy Davis -- 25-year-old son of true-crime author Barbara Davis -- during a drug raid.

May 2000 -- Troy Davis' estate sues the city. The federal lawsuit against the city and former and current officers involved in the raid alleges that officers used excessive force and violated Davis' civil rights.

March 2002 -- Officers are called to then-Police Chief Tom Shockley's house after he reports seeing an armed woman on his porch. He later says a prescription drug made him hallucinate.

July 2004 -- At the request of the Star-Telegram, the city calculates that the Davis legal case had cost North Richland Hills taxpayers at least $437,000 in legal fees as of July 2004.

Dec. 6, 2004 -- Shockley's car nearly hits a North Richland Hills patrol car. Shockley tells the Star-Telegram that the incident happened because he had taken a muscle relaxant, Soma, on an empty stomach.

Jan. 5, 2005 -- Shockley retires about a month after he is suspended without pay for erratic driving.

April 11, 2005 -- An appeals court dismisses claims that Shockley and police Sgt. Andy Wallace, supervisor of the SWAT team, failed to adequately supervise Hill when he shot Davis. Hill and North Richland Hills are the only remaining defendants in the case.

June 29, 2005 -- Jimmy Perdue, former assistant police chief in Irving, is announced as Shockley's replacement. He starts work Monday.

SOURCES: Star-Telegram interviews, police reports, documents from North Richland Hills

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