HOUSTON (AP) - A Houston police captain whose botched raid of drag racers last summer sparked a
public uproar was fired Wednesday.
Police Capt. Mark Aguirre, commander of the Aug. 18 raid in a Houston Kmart parking lot and a
23-year veteran of the police force, is already under indictment on five counts of official oppression in
connection with the case.
He met Tuesday with acting Police Chief Tim Ottmeier, who announced Aguirre's firing during
Wednesday's Houston City Council meeting.
Houston police Sgt. Ken Wenzel, a 26-year veteran and one of 13 officers suspended with pay after
the raid, resigned Tuesday hours before he was to meet with Ottmeier. Aguirre's lawyer, Terry Yates,
had expected Aguirre to be terminated and has said his client would fight any departmental discipline.
Wenzel also was indicted in December on the same five charges.
"I think what occurred is a grotesque charade," Aguirre said Wednesday.
He was in charge of the raid intended to curb drag racing, and Wenzel was a sergeant in his division.
Police found no evidence of drag racing the night of the raid, but they arrested more than 270 people in
the department store's parking lot and those of a nearby Sonic Drive-In and James Coney Island
restaurants.
Many of those arrested were restaurant customers, and they were charged with curfew violations and
trespassing.
All charges against those arrested in the raid were eventually dismissed. They are being expunged
from their records at city expense, but several lawsuits have been filed against the city and police
department.
