Review Of The Joe Campos Torres Case

In a diverse city like Houston, Texas what its inhabitants think of law enforcement officials may differ between one another, but in the late 1970s there was no doubt of tension between Houston Police Department and the community they were paid to protect. What shouldn’t be but often is ignored is the evidence of their brutality on or off duty, and as always the retaliation of the people when it goes unpunished. On Cinco de Mayo 1977 the blood of a young Mexican-American war veteran painted the grounds of Houston. His name was Joe Campos Torres. He was beaten to a pulp by six HPD officers while in handcuffs, then taken to the jailhouse where the other officers refused to book him in account of his severe injuries, but instead of taking him to Ben Taub Hospital the arresting officers decided to beat Joe an additional time and then threw him into Buffalo Bayou to die while coldly uttering. Lets see if the wetback can swim.

This was the ultimate violation of his civil and human rights. Houstonians were outraged, on the anniversary of Campos death during a Cinco de Mayo festival the turmoil lead to the 1978 Moody Park Riot. After trial two out of the six officers were sentenced to only one year of probation and 1$ charge as their fine. What I hope to learn from my research is every detail in and of this case in order to cast a light upon the extent of brutality exhibited by all six HPD officers that fatal night when they decided to violate the civil rights and senselessly beating Joe Campos Torres for their own sadistic enjoyment. What has been covered in the media is the mere image of the case but not its full nature because in the end no one was fully convicted for this vicious murder. There is the icing but where is the cake? I want to prove Joe Campos Torres didn’t die for a dollar. His death lead the roar of the Mexican-American community in Houston, Texas to stand against prejudice and the abuse of power in the HPD,so much so, his story became nationwide for people to see. Because this case was popular at the time and the brutality shown by HPD this case lead to the formation of its Internal Affairs Department who investigate professional misconduct within law enforcement to prevent cases like this .

The media did allow for it to be shared and discussed about even briefly to this day but I feel this story deserves more recognition. It is not a widely known case in our time even though its nature is significant with the issues concerning the shared emotions on police brutality today. Also, Id like to expose the injustice during sentencing .To avoid bias in Houston the case was held in Huntsville I feel the state failed Joe Torres by scheduling it there. With the city being close to Houston government officials have their connections down the road , so it was obvious the court was rigged they were sentenced to probation and a 1$ fine for this clearly savage crime. Others would argue however, that the policemen were only doing their job and Joe Campos asked for it, because he was prone to becoming aggressive when in the presence of alcohol. He was known to be a completely different person when under the influence his drinking problem was the reason he got discharged from the armed forces.

It was also the reason he was accused of being a public disturbance leading to his run-in with law enforcement in the first place. It wouldn’t be uncommon for some to feel little sympathy towards the beating, Joe was intoxicated probably became rude and aggressive with the officers, but those officers took advantage of their power and belabored him for doing so. But one thing that can’t be avoided is acknowledging they jumped an uncrossable line when they took Joes life. By depriving him of health care for his injuries, then purposefully pushing him from a 20ft drop to leave him drowning was coldly committed for sick entertainment.

Joes judgment and reasoning was impaired causing his misconduct but if he was a white man under the same circumstances it would of gone a different route since the tension between HPD and minorities wasn’t of rarity. Despite race or social conflicts no one deserves to have their life taken away from them so unmercifully by people who are supposed to be protectors. The arresting officers could of taken him to the hospital like they were asked or ended it after the second vicious beating but instead they just dumped him into the bayou like a worthless penny.

The Joe Campos Torres case is one of the most horrific and greatly corrupted cases Ive ever studied. The nature of this crime lacked humanism those are the actions of monsters to beat a handcuffed man almost to the point of death them dumping him to drown. Not a single drop of justice was shown in this case despite the enormous amount of media coverage and testimonies of the six cops accusing one another. One thing I found interesting was it took some digging to find the names of all six of them Terry Denson, Steven Orlando, Carless Eliott, Lewis Kinney, Glen Brinkmeyer and Joseph Janish were all participants but didn’t want to face the consequences of their crime. I will make it a goal to expose all of these men for the heartless, inhumane crime. Even if they had asked to be charged to the fullest extent of the law, they would of still received leniency because of their job titles similar to the cases we witness today. But one good thing that did come out of this case was the creation of HPDs Internal Affairs Department to put an end to the amount of police brutality that was taking place in Houston.