Paper: Houston Chronicle
Date: Fri 06/13/2008
Section: B Page: 5 Edition: 3 STAR R.O
. Acquitted Pasadena officers on duty
By MIKE GLENN
Staff
Two Pasadena police officers are back on duty after a jury last week acquitted them of charges that they beat a man to death during an arrest last summer.
Officers Jason W. Buckaloo, 33, and Christopher S. Jones, 30, on Monday rejoined the ranks at the Pasadena Police night shift, authorities said.
It wasn't known if the two will be on the street or sitting behind a desk.
"Whether an officer works inside or outside on a particular day or night is at the discretion of the supervisor," said Pasadena Police spokesman Capt. Bud Corbett.
After less than four hours of deliberation following a five-day trial, the jury on June 2 found Buckaloo and Jones not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Pedro Gonzales Jr., 51.
His family isn't surprised that Pasadena officials returned the officers to duty, said attorney Jay Jackson, who is representing them in a possible civil rights lawsuit.
"The department spent more effort trying to exonerate officers Buckaloo and Jones than it did trying to investigate their misconduct," Jackson said.
The officers were accused of killing Gonzales by breaking eight of his ribs and puncturing a lung July 21 when they arrested him outside an auto shop.
Gonzales was arrested less than two hours after he was released from jail on a prior public intoxication charge.
The officers suspected he was drunk at the time. An autopsy revealed Gonzales was suffering from severe alcohol withdrawal.
About five hours after his arrest, Gonzales was found dead in a Pasadena Jail holding cell.
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