Texas police seek gang truce, end of bloodshed after deadly brawl

[steve2470]

Source: Reuters

Texas police asked rival motorcycle gangs on Tuesday to put aside their differences after a weekend brawl at a Waco restaurant that left nine people dead and 18 injured, calling for a halt to the carnage and threats of revenge attacks.

“There has been enough tragedy and there has been enough bloodshed in Waco, Texas. We would appreciate there not being any more," Police Sergeant Patrick Swanton told a news briefing.

He added that threats for reprisal against police from motorcycle gangs have "toned down" but are still a worry for law enforcement officials, who arrested 170 people following Sunday's brawl at the Twin Peaks Sports Bar and Grill in the central Texas city.

Of the 18 injured, seven remain in the hospital and all are in stable condition. Few of those involved in the deadly brawl are from the Waco area, Swanton said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/19/us-usa-texas-bikers-idUSKBN0O41PE20150519

[sharp_stick]

1. Give them all directions to a box canyon

and let them go at it until only one comes out.

[irisblue]

5. that has some appeal.....

[MosheFeingold]

6. It's looking a bit like the cops shot a lot of people

Or so the rumor is. Shocking, I know.

[Codeine]

17. And well they should have.

A bunch of tweakers started a firefight in parking lot. That sounds like a pretty good justification for deadly force. This isn't an arthritic dude hobbling away clumsily, these are fully-armed and historically-violent gang members.

[FLPanhandle]

9. and then arrest the survivor

I like it.

[Cryptoad]

2. Hows that Open-Carry Law working out for yall in TX?

[Midnight Writer]

24. I expect an illuminating legal battle here

1) Texas has an extremely "liberal" open carry gun policy

2) Texas has an extreme "Stand Your Ground" law. If a person has a reasonable fear of death or bodily injury, or is protecting another person from death or bodily injury, that person is entitled to use deadly force, and is also in no way obliged to retreat to avoid a confrontation.

Unless the prosecutor can prove that the suspect was toting weapons unlawfully, and can prove the person was not in fear, I would guess that under Texas law no crime was committed here.

Perhaps if they can pinpoint the first person to act violently, that individual would be in trouble. But once the violence starts, I would guess that every person in range of this brawl had the legal right to stand their ground and act in defense of themselves and others. To be successful, the prosecution would have to prove that each suspect was unlawfully armed, and/or was not in fear of death or bodily harm to themselves or others. Good luck.

The Stand Your Ground law in Florida has already been used as a successful defense in gang fights. It will be interesting to see what happens here.

[Travis_0004]

26. Texas does not allow open carry of Handguns

[Spitfire of ATJ]

3. They're going to host a summit?

[Fuddnik]

7. A big beer summit at the White House!

[KansDem]

4. The police sergeant didn't say "please"...

But perhaps "we would appreciate..." will be sufficient.

[NuclearDem]

8. Outlaw MCs doing what the cops ask?

Yeah, they'll get right on that shit.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. "We would appreciate..."

Are you shittin' me?

Would they ask it the same way if they were the Bloods and the Crips having a turf battle?

Do people really NOT SEE why so many of us demand SOCIAL JUSTICE because of just this type of situation and the disparate way this event is being reported on (the language "minimizes" what was a riot), described ("a brawl".... really?? With 9 people killed????), and handled (I expect the 170+ people who were arrested made it to their jail cells intact), both by the authorities and the media. Why does it become an alternate universe when you have white-on-white crime?

[Hoppy]

11. A truce between those assholes? That'l work.

[Augiedog]

12. Their very existence depends on continuing this behavior.

These are children, intellectual toddlers, hissy fitting their tiny little ways through life. They won't change because they can't change. They are a rare flaw in society, yet think of themselves as noble warriors, but truly are only fearsome in their own eyes; they actually scare themselves far more than they scare anyone else. To frighten the society they claim to reject and puff themselves up they wear nazi insignia, adopt patches that say "expect no mercy" and don costumes designed to say look at me, I'm dangerous. They allege to the inspiration of the lone cowboy of the old west, yet are afraid to be seen in public unless with many of their gang. So don't expect them to agree to moderating their behavior, if anything it's going to get worse. It's all children know. They need to understand once and for all that regular, the 99.99% of people in America reject them, refuse to view them with some sort of awe and just laugh at the comic and tragic presence they really represent.

[SwankyXomb]

13. You shouldn't say such terrible things

about the kops.

[Tom Ripley]

16. ^^^THIS^^^

[madokie]

19. Those words could have come off my keyboard

except they didn't because I hadn't thought of them. Makes me 100% in agreement with you.

[okasha]

23. Possibly the silliest, most self-congratulatory post

I've ever seen on DU.

if either the Bandidos or Hell's Angels were legitimate businesses, they would be considered international corporations with hundreds of local franchises and close to 100% market share in their areas of operations. We would say that they had bought out or staged hostile takeovers of more modest companies to expand their brands and territorial coverage. They would be considered role models of international trade, purchasing raw product cheaply at the source and gaining enhanced value as they moved it away from the source. I could go on, but don't consider that necessary.

The only difference between that model and reality is that the bikers wear their colors instead of suits.

"Intellectual toddlers"? How many millions worth of business did you do this year?

[Enrique]

14. maybe Mick Jagger can help

[WinstonSmith4740]

15. Any of you guys watch "The Nightly Show"?

It replaced Colbert...well, nothing can REPLACE Colbert, but it's a pretty good show. Last night was a re-run, but I hadn't seen it the first time it ran. Larry Wilmore was in Baltimore interviewing gang members, Crips and Bloods. Now, we're not talking your high school wanna be...we're talking OG's here. Full on adults. They have called a truce...actually, they've called for peace between the two. It was a REALLY good interview with some very interesting men. Just curious about why the so called "liberal media" hasn't even mentioned this. It just struck me as an interesting juxtaposition...here we have white gangs in a riot where 9 people died, and they SHOT AT COPS when they arrived. But I saw a picture of about 2 dozen of them sitting together afterward, talking on their cell phones, with a single cop standing there. No one was in cuffs, no one looked roughed up. If this "brawl" had been between the Crips & Bloods, the SWAT team would have been called, there would have been a police shoot out, and a blood bath.

But this Police Sergeant "would appreciate" the motorcycle gangs behaving. Well, thank you sir. Can I have some more?

[Skittles]

18. nine people dead isn't a bloodbath?

[okasha]

20. 27 casualties, 9 of them dead

Eight gang members never made it out of the parking lot alive. Another never made it out of the hospital.

I'd call that a bloodbath.

[Skittles]

21. some of the bullshit flying around regarding these biker thugs is ridiculous

you would think everyone was rallying in their support by some of the DU responses

[okasha]

22. One response is possibly the silliest post I've ever seen on DU.

There seem to be two conflicting narratives coming out of some of these posts.

1, Brutal cops slaughtered innocent bike club members; and

2. Brutal cops failed to slaughter enough innocent bike club members because they're white

[Skittles]

25. 3. Cops set it up so they could shoot some bikers

oh yes, I have seen that one too