Vol. 76/No. 22      June 4, 2012

“It’s clear as day on the video,” said Frank Hernandez, who joined a protest at the Harris County District Courthouse May 17. “Houston police officers attacked a 15-year-old boy who was on the ground—not one of them but five. I used to work as a wrecker, and I saw the cops doing this to young people on the highway all the time.”

At least five police officers were kicking and punching Holley on March 24, 2010, as he lay on the ground with his hands behind his head. The cops said he fled a robbery. Holley, who was beaten unconscious, was eventually convicted of burglary and placed on probation.

The assault was caught on a surveillance camera at a nearby storage facility. An employee of the facility presented the film to city authorities but they refused to release it to the public or allow Holley to use it at his trial. A year later supporters of Holley succeeded in getting the video broadcast by the news media. Today it’s available on YouTube.

Officer Blomberg faced charges of “official oppression,” a misdemeanor, for his role in the attack on Holley. Seven cops were fired in the incident and three more will go on trial.

Only two African-Americans were selected as part of a jury pool of 60, according to the Houston Chronicle. Blomberg’s lawyers then struck both from the pool. Blacks comprise nearly 20 percent of the city’s population.

Democratic Mayor Annise Parker, who also said she favored a “guilty” verdict, lectured demonstrators to behave “in a civil and sensible manner. … We will go on from this.”

“This is not the time to ‘go on,’” Jacquie Henderson, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate from Texas, told Channel 13 TV News at the protest. “We need to stay in the streets.”

Cyndi Payton, the storage facility worker who brought the beating video to light, joined the protest. “I lost my job, eventually my home, my friends,” Payton, who is Caucasian, told Channel 2 TV news. “I’d do it all over again.”
 
 
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