Mr. Elliott later became a prosecution witness at both trials. In 1977, Joe Campos Torres had been arrested at a Houston bar for disorderly conduct. | HOUSTON, Oct. 30 Federal District Judge Ross N. Sterling, acting under orders from a Federal appeals court to impose prison terms on three former Houston police officers he had sentenced to probation for their roles in the death of a young MexicanAmerican man, today handed the three what amounted to an extra day in orison. In Chicano Squad, an eleven-episode podcast released in January by Vox Media, host and actress Cristela Alonzo follows Houstons attempts to grapple with the aftermath of Torress death, which included the creation of the first all-Latino homicide squad in the country. 110 Twenty-first Avenue South, Suite 704 Nashville, TN 37203, USA. Officers Terry Denson and Steven Orlando were indicted for murder on June 28. In 1977, Torres had been arrested at a Houston bar for disorderly conduct. 1977, Houston Police officer Terry Denson yelled, "Let's see if this wetback can swim!" Denson, along with five other white policemen (Louis Kinney, Glen Brinkmeyer, Joseph Janish, Stephen Orlando, and Carless Elliot) had arrested Torres after responding to a complaint of a drunken Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Longtime Virginia men's basketball coach Terry Holland has died, the school announced Monday. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. We can only hope that the next congressional delegation brings along Sessions so that he, too, can learn the story of Joe Campos Torres and Chief Caldwell. Houston police officers administer first aid to Officer Tommy A. Britt, injured by a car that broke through a police line at Irvington and Fulton during a riot that began in nearby Moody Park. Jerry Click/ Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less 35 of 56 Houston police officers administer first aid to Officer Tommy A. Britt, injured by a car that broke through a police line at Irvington . Five months after Torress murder, an all-white jury found Denson and Orlando guilty of negligent homicidea misdemeanor. His death and the light punishment the officers received would spark the infamous Moody Park Riot one year later. Hector J. Garcia of Houston, chairman of the Coalition for Responsible Law Enforcement, whose group has been meeting with police officials since last April, said violent police incidents here show no sign of abating. This has destroyed all of us. Mr. Torres's body was found in a Houston bayou on May 9, 1977, two days after he was arrested by Mr. Denson and other officers in a latenight barroom disturbance. They couldnt fail. That trial took place in Huntsville, Tex., 70 miles north of Houston, because the defendants had said they could not get a fair trial in Houston. Campos Torres was beaten by six officers for hours before they took him to the city jail. Officers Terry Denson and Stephen Orlando were convicted of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor, and were fined $1 and sentenced to probation. 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By the time Torres arrived at the jail, authorities refused to book him due to the extent of his injuries. In 2004, Poe was elected to the United States House of Representatives, serving for 14 years. The three former officers, Terry W. Denson, 29 years old, Joseph J. Janish, 25 and Stephen Orlando, 24, were found guilty in Judge Sterling's court last year of responsibility for the death by. The three former officers are to be sentenced late next month. And those who chronicled the attack said the executioner was. Holland, 80, previously was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. the Texanist, is a staff writer. The sentences that Judge Sterling imposed were each one year and one day, but they were set to run concurrently with separate oneyear sentences he imposed on the three men last year for a misdemeanor count of violating the victim's civil rights. The case became a national symbol of police brutality against Hispanics in the Southwest. 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On an overcast evening in early May 1977, 23-year-old Vietnam War veteran Jose Campos Torres was in handcuffs for drunk and disorderly conduct at a cantina in Houstons East End. When they brought him to the station, according to the testimony of a police sergeant on duty, Mr. Torres needed medical treatment. Taylor Prewitt is the newsletter editor for Texas Monthly. Officer Terry Denson came up with the idea: "Let's see if the wetback can swim," he said. Police responded to a call at the park on the evening of May 7, 1978, and as the crowd began chanting Justice for Jose Torres, a riot broke out. Chief Bond introduces possible disciplinary action against the offending officers through the civil service law, KPRC reporter Don Shelby speculates on the possibility of a second assault on Torres in between the time when officers brought him to the jail and when he ended up in the bayou. The judge sentenced them to one year of probation and fined them each $1. In the wake of Torres's death, frustrated residents of Houston's barrios staged rallies and protests around the city. Historian Dwight David Watson, who is interviewed in Chicano Squad, wrote a book on twentieth-century HPD history in which he traces its ties to the Ku Klux Klan in the twenties and the years of racist incidents and attempts at reform that followed. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner apologized to the family of Joe Campos Torres for his death in 1977 in Houston police custody, calling it 'straight-up murder', Torres, a US Army Vietnam veteran, was 23 when he was arrested on May 5, 1977 for disorderly conduct at a bar, and beaten. The Cavaliers said . October 18, 2016 Six police officers took Torres to a spot called "The Hole" next to Buffalo Bayou and beat him. Taking Vitamin D each day could cut your chances of getting dementia, study claims. An all-white jury found them guilty of negligent homicidea misdemeanorand sentenced the officers to a year's probation and a $1 fine. Updated: June 20, 2015. All six officers were found guilty of violating Torres' civil rights, and given a ten-year suspended sentence. On April 3, a plaza, a monument, a huge portrait, and a walking trail were all unveiled and dedicated to remembering a man brutally murdered by Houston police almost 45 years ago. "People rose-up and started throwing rocks and bottles at the police, overturning police cars and shouting 'Justice for Joe Torres' and 'Viva Joe Torres,'" Barthe said. The protests that . On May 8, Mr. Torres's body was found floating in the bayou. Reuben Bonilla of Corpus Christi, who heads the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in Texas, called the verdict "the most deplorable and unconscionable in recent memory," and said he fears Hispanic-American violence unless the Justic Department acts promptly to bring a federal case against the officers. And as Mosqueda recalls, many non-Latino officers were happy to throw around the word wetbackthe same pejorative hurled at Torres before his death. REPORTER: Walter Cronkite, (Houston, Texas) Background of case involving alleged beating of Joe Campos Torres, which resulted in his drowning, by officers Terry Wayne Denson, Stephen Orlando and Joseph Janish given. Past charges of brutality against Houston Police Department noted. Carless Elliott, the only rookie cop at the scene that night, later recalled in court the words of one of his fellow officers, the last words Torres must have heard before his body plunged into those dark waters: Lets see if this wetback can swim.. The squad did not have a single fatal officer-involved shooting during its three-decade tenure. A third officer, J.J. Janish, was charged with misdemeanor assault. CBS Evening News for Wednesday, Feb 08, 1978 The officers were eventually sentenced to nine months in prison, but tensions simmered for a year until they boiled over on the anniversary of Campos Torres' death. While speakers from the La Raza Unida party, the Texas Farmworkers Union, the Barrios Unidos en Defensa and the Torres family addressed the crowd, the father of the dead man, Joe Torres Sr., watched with his wife Margaret. There, they brutally beat him for several hours. Instead, they brought him back to the Hole. Films shown; previous state trial of 2 officers and demands of local Mex.-Americans for Justice Department probe noted. 6:00AM, Kinetic Celebrates Womens History Month with a World Premiere, What Your Favorite Mainline Final Fantasy Game Says About You. 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