Houston Police: Man Dies After Being Beaten By Construction Workers

[Catherine Vincent]

HPD: Man Dies After Being Beaten By Construction Workers
HPD: Construction Workers Saw Man Burglarizing Vehicles

POSTED: Friday, December 3, 2010
UPDATED: 7:27 am CST December 3, 2010

A man, four construction workers suspected of breaking into cars, died after they attacked him, police said.

Houston police said the construction workers chased down and beat up the man near their work site at the at EZ Pawn on Bellaire Boulevard near Cook Road at about 2:40 p.m. Thursday.

The workers told investigators they saw the man break into vehicles, including a pickup truck that belonged to one of them.

When police arrived at the scene, two of the workers were holding the man down, officials said.

"She (an officer) proceeds to take him into custody," Houston Police Department spokesman Victor Senties said. "She puts the cuffs on him; he is still laying facedown. At that time, she rolls him over and there are indications that he is deceased."

The man's name has not been released. Detectives said they don't know if he had any medical conditions.

The construction workers were taken in for questioning.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/26006497/detail.html

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Okay what do you think should happen to these construction workers? My opinion is, if the facts lead to them beating this suspect to death, then they should be punished with jail time. There was no important reason for them to do what they did. They would have been heroes had they just held him until the police arrived.

[Deep13]

1. murder. nt

[RKP5637]

2. Agree with you! n/t

[joeybee12]

3. Murde, likely pre-meditated...they probably talked amongst themselves

that they would do this if they saw the guy...throw the book at them.

[Iggo]

4. In their world, breaking into cars is cause for a deadly beating.

Okay.

So again in their world, what do you suppose the punishment for a deadly beating is?

[somone]

5. Sounds like excessive and gratuitous violence

or asphyxiation. They should be charged.

[MineralMan]

6. Last I heard, stealing stuff

wasn't a capital crime. These guys are in big trouble. It's just stuff. Now a man is dead, instead of in jail, where he belongs. Instead the guys whose stuff was stolen will be in jail. Bad bargain.

[oldhippie]

23. Remember, this was in Texas ...

.... where use of deadly force is authorized to prevent the escape of a thief. See Texas Penal Code Chapter 9.

My bet is that the construction workers may be charged and indicted (since this is Houston, a liberal enclave in Texas) but they won't be convicted by a jury.

Same reason Joe Horn got off.

In my county they would be no-billed. We don't cotton to thieves in these parts.

[MilesColtrane]

7. They should be charged with criminally negligent homicide.

10 to 15 years inside, if found guilty...

[demwing]

8. I think they should be made police officers

they seem to have the psychological requirements



















































Really? Did I have to add the :sarcasm: ???

[howaboutme]

9. If he was breaking into cars

should we feel sorry for him, or for those who may have had their personal property stolen?

I will never get to the point where I feel sorry for thieves unless they are more like Robin Hood stealing from Wall Street. Then I would cheer them on.

I agree they should not have intentionally beaten him to death, but sometimes all it takes is an accidental push and a fall the wrong way. When this individual made the decision to steal from these workers, who like most American workers are struggling to make a living, he made a big mistake.

[peace13]

10. We have laws and courts in this country for a reason.

Innocent until proven guilty and all of that good stuff. I miss the old America. The days before * and the lawless thugs at the top. God forbid that I be in the wrong place at the wrong time, possibly looking different than my accusers. Hope you and yours stay safe.

[Occulus]

12. "they should not have intentionally beaten him to death, but"

:puke:

[howaboutme]

13. Did they intentionally beat him to death or

could it have been an accident, is all I'm saying? I don't think we should jump to conclusions either way. It could have ended up as self defense if the thief had a knife or firearm.

I keep far more than pens or change in my vehicles and without it happening I can say without any doubt that I would not be in a forgiving mood of those who would break in and steal. Stuff happens in a confrontation and you may end up playing defense instead of offense.

Next time someone steals your expensive laptop with your business and life stored on it from your car, would compassion rule or would you be very angry and wish for a chance to get your hands on the thief?

[Occulus]

16. .

:puke: :puke:

[MadHound]

15. You make Inspector Javert proud,

How very sad.

[tkmorris]

18. Justice isn't about "feeling sorry" for anyone

It's about protecting those that you DON'T feel sorry for. Protecting the rights of people you admire is easy; protecting the rights of those you despise is what makes for a truly fair and just system.

[Edweird]

11. What's in your car? A couple of pens and some change? My truck holds my livelihood - about $10,000

in tools. Theft of those tools goes far beyond 'inconvenience' and is well into financially devastating - especially considering that is HOW I MAKE MY LIVING. I cannot speak for these workers but I can tell you that I have no sense of humor whatsoever about the possibility of burglary.

I'm not saying it's OK to kill someone over tools - I'm saying that if I caught him he would be there when the police arrived no matter how much he resisted. I could see that being the case in this instance as well.

[Scruffy1]

21. Better check with a lawyer on that one

Every state is different, but where I live it would be a bad idea to detain a fleeing suspect. I know how you feel, since I often carry my living with me, but by trying to detain someone you might run the risk of violent confrontation and possible lawsuits. My advice is to keep your insurance paid up. I usually try to park where I can see my vehicle. Alarms i generally consider useless. Everyone just ignores them.

[Edweird]

22. "I usually try to park where I can see my vehicle." Why? You aren't going to do anything.

I live in Florida. We have 'stand your ground' and 'castle doctrine'.

[Catherine Vincent]

14. I'll keep interest in this story

And see what the outcome will be. If anyone of them get jailtime, I will note that Joe Horn got special treatment. I don't know if any of you remember but a couple of years ago this guy named Joe Horn was watching his next door neighbor's house being burglarized and called 911. The operator demanded that Mr. Horn stay in his house and not approach the burglars and that police was on the way. He paid no attention to the 911 operator and proceeded to get his gun, went out and shot and killed both perpetrators (one in the back). After all the protests and commotion from protestors and Joe Horn supporters, a grand jury decided that he should get no jailtime or punishment. You see both perps were illegals and committing a crime so justice was not served.

[RegieRocker]

17. Not enough information and no absolute verification on

the story. Some times stories change a lot after a few days. They don't even say anything about his condition. I would give this some time before passing judgment.

[JI7]

19. Beating someone to death for breaking into cars is worse than Breaking into cars itself

they could have held him since there were 4 of them .

[Greyhound]

20. Involuntary manslaughter at least. n/t