Police say they defended selves in biker brawl

In affidavits filed by Waco police to justify the arrest of 170 people in a May 18 brawl, officers state they were defending themselves after a fight broke out between two motorcycle gangs.

SAN ANTONIO — In arrest warrant affidavits filed by Waco police to justify the arrest of 170 people in a May 18 brawl, officers state they were defending themselves after a fight broke out between two motorcycle gangs, the Cossacks and the Bandidos.

Some had guns, knives and other weapons, according to the affidavits. Nine people were killed and many others injured.

“Cossacks and Bandidos discharged firearms at one another,” the affidavits state. “Members of the Waco Police Department attempted to stop the altercation and were fired upon by Bandidos and/or Cossacks. Waco police officers returned fire, striking multiple gang members.”

But defense lawyers and relatives of some of those who were arrested maintain many were innocent bystanders, who were not members of a gang, and were there attending a meeting about motorcycle laws and safety.

Lawyers and legal experts say the police sweep may have violated the civil rights of some of the 170 people who were arrested.

“If they’re holding them on high bail, the arrest itself can be an illegal sweep if it’s just based on your presence on the scene or your association with a group that has free speech or association rights,” said David Kairys, professor of constitutional law at Temple University Law School who previously was a long-time civil rights lawyer.

Kairys, who won two cases challenging police sweeps in Philadelphia, said those who were arrested may have to wait until the criminal cases are disposed of in order to do anything about it.

New York City, for example, ended up paying settlements to more than 1,800 plaintiffs who were arrested during the 2004 Republican National Con-

“When the public thinks bikers, they think of ‘Sons of Anarchy’ and think every biker ... is an outlaw. ... A lot of these guys are hard-working guys.”

Jesse Hernandez, defense attorney

vention.

Four years after their arrests, each plaintiff was awarded an average payout of about $6,400. According to media reports, New York City paid out $10.3 million to the plaintiffs, and their lawyers got about $7.6 million,.

In the Waco affidavits, the role of each arrested defendant is generalized. Each defendant is accused of engaging in organized crime by conspiring to participate in murder, capital murder or aggravated assault.

“After the altercation, the subject was apprehended at the scene, while wearing common identifying distinctive signs or symbols or had an identifiable leadership or continuously or regularly associate in the commission of criminal activities,” the affidavits state.

San Antonio lawyer Jesse Hernandez, who has spoken to relatives of at least eight who were arrested and has been hired by one family, said many were taken into custody as they arrived to the meeting to discuss rights of bikers and laws, and were not part of the Cossacks or Bandidos.

He said the sweep has been compounded by a slow reaction of the courts to afford hearings for the defendants, all of whom have bonds set at $1 million, which Hernandez said is set so high “to punish these guys.”

Hernandez represents James A. Venable Jr., 47, of Mart, near Waco, whom Hernandez said is with a small motorcycle club called “Los Pirados.”

“They’ve arrested 170, but they are not going to convict all of them,” Hernandez said. “Many are going to have to be let go. But in that time, what will they have lost? Some are losing their jobs, others are losing their houses. My client won’t be able to see his son graduate.”

Hernandez said some club members, such as his client, wear a small “SYLB (Support Your Local Bandido) sticker or patch, simply as a nod or an acknowledgment that they realize that Texas is ‘Bandido Country.’” But that does not mean they are associates of the Bandidos, he said.

“When the public thinks bikers, they think of ‘Sons of Anarchy’ and think every biker on the road is an outlaw criminal,” Hernandez said. “In reality, a lot of these are hard-working guys that like to ride bikes and they ride with these clubs and that’s it.”

Venable may have to wait a long time to tell a judge he had nothing to do with the fight, Hernandez said.

The district courts in McLennan County are setting hearings only on Fridays and only for eight defendants at a time, records show. Venable won’t see a judge until June 12, said Hernandez, who has filed a series of motions, including one for an examining trial to challenge whether police had enough probable cause to arrest Venable.

A justice of the peace has set a hearing for that motion on Aug. 10.