Texan mistakenly arrested for burglarizing his own home on trial just the same

After a neighbor called police to say a man had broken into an East Texan's home, officers surrounded the house and ordered the suspected burglar to come out. When he didn't, officers kicked in the door, shot him repeatedly with a pepper spray gun, and tackled him the living room. They arrested him for burglary. Then police had an uh-oh moment. Turns out, the man lived in the house. Also turns out he doesn't speak English. Still, he's on trial for evading arrest in the incident.  Jurors, what's your verdict?

Comments

[jerry]

well spent tax money there fools

[Karen]

Evading arrest? Seriously? Hadnt he already suffered enought with the police pepper spraying him several times? How can you be evading arrest if you dont speak English and couldnt understand the command by police? I mean, he WAS in his OWN home for goodness sake.

[Txweslawyer]

TPC 38.04 "A person commits an offense if he intentionally flees from a person he knows is a peace officer" Where is the "flee"? What D/A police force is this?

[mailliam]

The law is written to protect legitimate law enforcement action; similar to that of the New England college professor and the cop. Citizens should/must defer to police action in the interest of public safety first; their own and the officers doing their job. If there questions arise, they can be answered safely after the fact with everyone walking away and going home (or in this case staying home).

[Perez Ralph]

They should be apologizing to this man not charging him with evading arrest. What i dont get is why isnt someone being held responsible for this? I hope he sues the hell out of the city for this one.

[Cris Runge]

I'm surprised the police department hasn't dropped the charges in trade for the resident NOT proceeding with a law suit. This guy needs a good lawyer and he will own his next home outright and be able to afford a great security system.

[Chris]

He doesn't speak english but he LIVES in that house. This is America, learn the language, earn your right to be here or get out! Pepper Spray him until he can say "Stop" in english!

[bob]

lets see, he owns his house, probably has a car, a job, ... and he claims he doesnt know to come out when the police are pounding on his door.
immigrants always claim ignorance, i didnt understand ur honor - haha to themselves since it always works.

[JIm Merritt]

If a person wishes to live in the USA, then they should learn to read, write and speak english. They chose to move here, we did not force them to move here, so why should we be required to learn thier native language so we can communciate with them?????

[Tommy Vaughn]

To the Police Dept -- "Here's Your Sign" as Bill Engvall would say

[Sad Notsurprised]

Sad thing is, I heard he was convicted and sent to jail. Does that make any sense?

[Big Dan]

I like the last answer given by police, that this whole thing could've been avoided had the man simply told him that he lived there.

1. Is there any evidence he didn't tell them that? They say he didn't speak English. Perhaps he told them in Spanish and they didn't listen.

2. Are they seriously saying that they would have believed him had he said he lived there? They were investigating a report of a burglary, and he tells them through the door "I live here. What do you want?", the police would have packed up and left?

They were going to take him into custody regardless. They may not have arrested him once his identity was known (though they didn't bother to ascertain that prior to leaving the scene in the first place, so who knows?)

3. One of the first things they were required to say to him upon his arrest was "You have the right to remain silent", yet the police claim that the only way to avoid arrest in your own home is to waive that very right.

[Wylie H.]

It is now being reported that the poor guy was convicted and immediately hauled off to jail to begin serving a 30 day sentence.

http://lufkindailynews.com/news/local/article_79700610-b30b-11e0-a4e5-001cc4c03286.html

[Sad Notsurprised]

He was found guilty and given 30 days and $500. He was also an illegal immigrant.

[Don]

Why does the heading call the man a 'Texan'? He doesn't even speak English, not even the Texas dialect. He's a Mexican, living legally in Texas.
Why doesn't the heading say "Immigrant who Speaks No English"....

[Wylie H.]

As the article states, the man was living legally in Texas. The jury sent the judge a note saying they thought the guy had been wronged (as a part of taking him into custody, the cops evidently beat the daylights out of him) and they hoped the judge would take that into consideration in the sentencing.