K-Mart Kiddie Roundup: Sister speaks

Captain Mark Aguirre's sister has spoken up in his defense, saying that he's the victim of a vendetta by Chief Bradford. She also claims that only the guilty were arrested:

"My brother told me the crowd was 500 strong when police moved in," [Ivonne] Carr said. "They had undercover police officers everywhere to make sure nobody who was a shopper at Sonic or Kmart was arrested. These are kids who are complaining because they got caught and mommy and daddy had to cough up some dough. ... This was not a peaceful gathering."

Plain-clothes officers staking out the lot before the raid handed out cards to shoppers to help ensure they didn't get caught up in the fray, she said.

I'd give such claims more credence if they weren't also self-serving. I know, the claims of innocence by the arrestees are also self-serving, but they at least have some corroboration from the employees at the Sonic drive-through. Plus, all reports I've read say that there was no drag racing going on. If this was an operation to round up drag racers, why did it proceed once it was clear they weren't there? What was it supposed to accomplish?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 02, 2002 to K-Mart Kiddie Roundup