Piling on Trouble

To prove her point, Perez said police had tried to intimidate her after she announced the meeting at her restaurant. A cop car had followed her so closely one day that she was afraid to brake for fear she’d be rear-ended.

“I’m already being blackballed for speaking and getting you guys together,” she told the crowd.

Ramirez had heard enough. “That’s not true,” he said. “You’re inciting stuff. Nobody’s blackballing you, Mary.”

She accused Ramirez of telling her in a roundabout way that police would no longer support her restaurant if she organized the community. The two got into a tense conversation that ended when another resident interceded.

“We’re not here to attack Charlie,” Willie Goodwin, a longtime Diamond Hill resident and property owner, said. “We need to calm down.”

Ramirez assured the crowd that complaints made to Internal Affairs would be investigated. “If you’re being harassed or yelled at or cursed at, we need to know about that. I don’t want any officer wearing this uniform doing that,” he said.

Brumley’s sister, Veronica Castillo, said the Quezada family reached out to her via social media and that she’s heard from other families with complaints about police. She plans to use social media to gather and document their stories.

“I have to do this,” she said. “I know my family is not the only family that’s hurting. I want to make a stand.”

The day after the meeting, somebody told Perez about a police confrontation on North Houston Street the night before. Police had shown up on the doorstep of  Jesse Urias at about 9:15 p.m., looking for a suspect wanted on a felony warrant. Urias has rented the home in Diamond Hill for about a year. His name is on the mailbox.

Urias, 45, lives alone and — in a strange coincidence — rents his house from Goodwin, the activist who’d defended Ramirez during the meeting at Enchiladas Ole.

Urias said he was asleep in bed when he heard his doorbell ring.

“I opened the door, and I saw the policeman. The officer was looking for a girl who had lived here before,” he recounted. “He was mean. I said I didn’t know who she was. He said, ‘You’re a fucking liar.’ ”

Two other officers accompanied the one who spoke to Urias, and a fourth arrived soon after, Urias said.

Urias said the first officer asked to come inside the house, but Urias refused. He wanted to call Goodwin, who lives nearby. Urias said that when he headed to his bedroom to fetch his cell phone, police broke the latch on his locked door.

“I ran to my room to get my cell phone and call my landlord, and he [the officer] followed me to my room,” Urias said. “He had his hand on his gun. He said, ‘You’re hiding her.’ I said I didn’t know what he was talking about. I thought he was going to kill me or something. I was scared.”

Goodwin ran to Urias’ house. The weather was frosty, but Goodwin left so fast he hadn’t even bothered to put on socks.

“I take care of Jesse,” Goodwin said. “He’s a great individual.”

Urias saw his own brother die after being shot by police, who were serving him with a misdemeanor warrant in 1978. Urias, who was 8 at the time, said he hid under a bed during the shooting.

During the recent incident, Goodwin told Urias not to let anyone inside the house if he was afraid. Police were inside when Goodwin arrived. Urias was nearly hysterical. Even after police left, Urias tossed and turned all night.

“I was so scared,” Urias said. “I was starting to cry because I didn’t know what to do. I was shaking.”

The officers had been looking for a woman who’d apparently never lived at the house, although one of her relatives had once lived there. The next day, Goodwin called Ramirez to tell him what had happened. Ramirez insisted on coming by to talk to Urias personally.

“[Ramirez] is doing a thorough investigation,” Goodwin said. “He showed great concern. I’m just thankful Jesse is alive with us today. That incident could have easily gone in the wrong direction. He reached for his phone. That could have turned tragic.”

Ramirez is a former Diamond Hill resident. Goodwin met him years ago, worked with him on neighborhood issues, and considers him a good cop who cares for people. But the raid on Urias’ house is proof that more community meetings are needed, Goodwin said.

“This [police aggression] has to be addressed,” he said. “It’s going to fall to the city council and mayor to review something with our new police chief. I hear a lot of complaints. I love the police, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to help these guys, but in return we need the same respect.”

The Weekly asked to interview Ramirez about the Urias incident but instead received an e-mail from police spokesperson Tracey Knight.

“Officers received information that a suspect with an active felony arrest warrant lived [on] North Houston Street,” but the person was not located Cpl. Knight wrote. “We have received no formal complaints from the homeowner, renter, or any citizen. An investigation has been initiated by the department regarding the officers’ actions … to ensure that it was handled correctly and to identify any additional training opportunities or procedural changes needed in the future.”