Answers hard to come by in wrongful death lawsuit

By Dave Lieber
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

As a federal lawsuit involving a deadly North Richland Hills police SWAT raid draws closer to trial, questions are being asked of city officials about police procedures and how they responded in the aftermath.

The answers are not easy to get.

North Richland Hills' top officials at the time have testified in pretrial depositions that they don't know how police procedures were updated and monitored. And their responses indicate that procedures were never examined after the 1999 drug raid led to the shooting death of Troy Davis.

At one point in a recent deposition of a police supervisor who helped plan the raid, a lawyer for the Davis estate grew frustrated that he could not get the information he sought.

"I'm just trying to get a straight answer from somebody from the city of North Richland Hills," lawyer Mark Haney said, according to a transcript of a deposition. He said he wanted to find somebody who could speak knowledgeably about police procedures.

In frustration, he asked: "Is there anybody? ... Who is it? Who can talk about this topic?"

City Attorney George Staples replied, "That's not my problem. That's your problem."

Last month, Haney filed a motion in federal court asking U.S. District Judge Terry Means to force the city to be more forthcoming when testifying about "the policies and customs" of the Police Department. The motion also seeks sanctions against the city.

Staples is leading a rigorous defense of the city, stating in a response letter to opposing counsel, available in the court records: "Your proposal to me was that I simply give in to your demands. I will not agree to that."

A basic point of contention is who is responsible for Police Department operations.

Charles Scoma, who was mayor at the time of the raid, testified in a deposition that under the council-city manager style of government, the council and mayor are not responsible for direct oversight of the Police Department. That responsibility is left to the city manager and police chief, he said.

In his August deposition, City Manager Larry Cunningham said he took responsibility for hiring and firing police personnel, but he left police procedures and any post-shooting investigation up to the police chief.

Yet the police chief at the time, Thomas Shockley, testified in his deposition that Cunningham had greater authority over procedures than he did.

Shockley, who resigned earlier this year after he was charged with driving under the influence of prescription drugs, was asked by Haney, "Is it your testimony here today that you did not have the authority to establish policies for the city of North Richland Hills Police Department during the period of time you served as its chief of police?"

Shockley answered, "Based on what I was told, that apparently is true."

He added that he was never specifically told by Cunningham that he had been delegated that authority.

In an interview, Cunningham described a separation of duties between civilians such as himself and police officers. He said, "The civilians in city management have to be very careful about stepping over the line about how to tell the police how to do their job in terms of criminal procedures and other procedures used to operate the Police Department."

One local government expert who specializes in city manager responsibilities said that managers ought to exert tight control to make sure that police and the public are protected.

Terrell Blodgett, a professor emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin who describes himself as a longtime friend of Cunningham, told me in an interview: "I would think that in any kind of shooting, particularly a fatal shooting, this would trigger some additional questions and investigation by a city manager."

A city manager, he added, "couldn't help but get involved with police procedures and see that the procedures are proper."

In his deposition, Cunningham was asked whether he had any role in ordering an investigation of the police raid.

"No, sir," the city manager replied.

Next question: "Was that solely done internally within the Police Department at the direction of Chief Shockley, to your knowledge?"

Cunningham's answer: "I don't know who ordered it, but it was within the Police Department. I have no knowledge of it."

Question: "Subsequent to the shooting death of Troy Davis, did you ever ask for there to be a review of the policies and procedures of the city of North Richland Hills Police Department to determine whether or not the policies in effect may have contributed to Troy Davis' death?"

Answer: "No, I did not."

Question: "Do you have any knowledge whether or not the city of North Richland Hills ever conducted such an investigation?"

Answer: "I'm not aware of any."

Cunningham told me in the interview that he did not like "what the end result was" of the police raid. But he said he believed the filing of the lawsuit against the city removed some of his authority to get involved.

Asked whether the lawsuit prevented him from doing his job, he replied, "I think to some degree it did."

Cunningham told me he believed that he managed the police properly.

"My feeling is that we did those things that we felt were necessary in this particular case." He added, "We can always make better decisions and do things better, I suppose," he said. "But I think I did what I needed to do."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(817) 685-3830 dlieber@star-telegram.com

Top