Results tagged “harriscountyjail”

A tragic story continued unfolding this week in the case of Dennis Ray Driver Jr., the 8-month-old Houston boy who died late last year while asleep on his father's chest: The father, Dennis Driver, has been charged with murder in connection with the infant's death — and police say the boy died from taking cocaine. It happened Dec. 28, when Driver says he fell asleep with Dennis Jr. asleep on his chest; when Driver woke...

Good morning, Houston. So, did you hear about the calf that ran loose along the Gulf Freeway feeder road near Clear Lake City Boulevard yesterday? As if there aren't enough things causing traffic on our freeways, you know? The calf apparently got loose through a hole in a fence, and it wandered along the feeder for nearly an hour and a half, eluding its would-be captors until it slipped back through the hole where...

Some people don't want to make arrangements to take care of their lawns, apparently: Take, for example, Linda A. Ballew, who was released from the Harris County Jail yesterday after serving four days because she refused to clean up her back yard. The jail term was the result of an ongoing disagreement between Ballew and the Kirkmont Association, which took her to court in 2004 over her overgrown yard and won an injunction against her that required her to mow her yard twice a month and trim her trees and shrubs once a year. So she cut her front yard, but left the back as it was — which meant the back yard was, as a neighbor described, a "jungle" with grass up to 9 feet high. "We've had nutria rats — the ones that look like beavers — caught in the trap in my backyard," said neighbor David Carroll, who's also president of the homeowners association board. "I have had run-ins with large snakes. My dog has been sprayed by a skunk. ... My children are not allowed to walk the property unless I go out there first."

Turns out it wasn't really all that hard to capture Andrew Dale Coley, the car thief who escaped from a private jail downtown on Monday evening — all it took was a police chief who happened to be in the right place at the right time. The chief was Rick Boyle, of UH-Downtown, who nabbed Coley while jogging along Buffalo Bayou on Wednesday afternoon.

Good morning, Houston. It's Friday again — the Friday before Memorial Day, to be exact. And because we'll be taking a breather on Monday, we wanted to take a chance to direct you over to the history of Memorial Day, a holiday that traces its origin to Waterloo, N.Y., in 1866. Check it out, enjoy, and have an excellent holiday. >> Microwaved baby's father drops opposition to foster care: Joshua Mauldin, the man accused...

The Chronicle has a little more today on the woman who a police officer shot early Sunday when she lunged at him with a knife in the lobby of HPD headquarters: The day before she showed up at 1200 Travis, Marnell Villarreal left a rambling, cryptic voice mail message with an attorney who had represented her about 14 years ago. Attorney Clyde Miller said the message was mostly unintelligible, but he could make out Villarreal...

We learned from former ABC 13 weatherman Ed Brandon's guest post on the mike mcguff blog this week that Tuesday was Ed Brandon Day. How did you celebrate? At City Hall on Tuesday, Brandon was presented with a fancy plaque and there were all sorts of festivities. Brandon himself seemed more than a little excited to commemorate his holiday, and he has big plans for next year. Included: an Ed Brandon Day Parade (or parades!)....

Good morning, Houston. Did you read the Chronicle over breakfast this morning? We're sure the paper is thanking you: According to the Newspaper Association of America, the Chron lost 2 percent of its circulation in the six-month period ending in March. That's really not so bad compared with drops among some of the other biggest papers in the country: 3.5 percent for The Washington Post, 4.2 percent for the LA Times and a whopping...

Seventeen-year-old Michael Shepherd probably figured he had a foolproof plan to keep from going behind bars: As he arrived at the Harris County Jail on Wednesday morning, he decided to escape police by jumping into Buffalo Bayou. Shepherd was on his way to the Harris County Inmate Processing Center at 1201 Commerce; as he was being taken out of a vehicle, "he noticed that the detective he was with was wearing boots and he thought...

Good morning, Houston. Do you feel more metropolitan? Or bigger, maybe? According to estimates released by the Census Bureau yesterday, the influx of hurricane evacuees has made the Houston metro area the country's sixth largest. The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area now has an estimated 5,483,857 residents, which puts it ahead of Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach but still behind the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Philadelphia metro areas. Another population fact: Harris County...

Last month, a Baytown woman ordered an inordinate amount of food from a Domino's pizza location, had it delivered and paid for the order by signing a fake name to a check drawn on a bank that no longer exists. And now she's in jail for it — and that apparently surprises her. Yeah, the law's funny like that sometimes, isn't it?

An interesting, but gruesome, story is developing about a MS-13 gang member who's now in custody in Houston: According to authorities in Honduras, 26-year-old Albin Zelaya decapitated his ex-girlfriend's parents because their daughter broke up with him.

In November, Phillip Perez set a video camera up to tape himself painting graffiti art at a Montrose street festival. And he did record that — but he also recorded what he claims was excessive force used by HPD officers when they came along and arrested him. Now, Perez is suing the city, claiming he was falsely arrested and that his First Amendment rights were abridged, and he says the video proves his case.

You might have heard this weekend about Alfred Alaniz, the HPD officer arrested Friday in a bribery sting and charged with accepting cash from an undercover cop posing as a motorist during a traffic stop. Today, there's more news related to Alaniz: The Houston Police Patrolmen's Union might not defend him in court. The union provides legal representation for members who face internal or external disciplinary actions connected with their official duties, like officer-involved shootings...

Things just didn't go well yesterday for Michael Choate, a 21-year-old guy involved in a high-speed police chase in northwest Harris County yesterday. The chase began around 4:25 p.m. in Jersey Village — it's not clear exactly how — and resulted in Choate weaving through rush-hour traffic at speeds up to 150 mph on his motorcycle.

Remember John Sheroke, the Katy man who was arrested last month after trying to hire a hitman to murder his wife? It seems he just can't get the Mrs. out of his mind: Sheroke has been sent back to jail for sending his wife a birthday present, which violated a judge's order. Oops.

The four former mayor pro tem employees accused of taking $200,000 in illegal bonuses and payraises are scheduled to appear in court today after three of them surrendered for processing at the Harris County Jail and posted bond yesterday.

Bad news from southeast Houston yesterday evening: Rodney Johnson, a 12-year veteran of HPD, was apparently killed by a suspect sitting in the back seat of his patrol car. It started just after 5 p.m., when Johnson pulled over a pickup with two people inside; a female passenger fled the scene, but Johnson detained and handcuffed the male driver. Later, Johnson was found at Randolph and Braniff, on the southern edge of Hobby Airport, shot four times through the plastic shield separating the front and rear of the cruiser. The 32-year-old suspect, Juan Leonardo Quintero, was still handcuffed and sitting in the back of the car along with a pistol believed to have been used in the shooting; Johnson was pronounced dead at Ben Taub.

A Katy woman accused of having sex with a neighbor boy beginning when he was 11 years old is now thought by police to have had his baby. The woman, Dina Marie Blakley, 37, was recalled by neighbors in Katy's Creekstone subdivision as having had frequent fights with neighbors and having children always congregating at her house. The victim, who is now 15, told a relative about the abuse early last month. The relationship began...

Despite early reports of a possible connection between a man arrested in connection with raping a woman and a possible serial killer stalking women in the Acres Homes area, police are stressing that no positive link has been made between Bilford Junious and the killer. And, they say, there's still a good chance the murders weren't all committed by the same person. All of which means the cops may not be any closer to solving...

A federal appeals court ruled today that Tom DeLay cannot be replaced with another candidate on the November ballot A Humble salon owner accused of secretly videotaping customers in tanning booths was placed on a curfew during a court appearance today Last night in Montrose, a man dressed as a woman was stabbed at a bus stop; the victim is expected to be OK and police are investigating the incident The latest revelation from KHOU:...

">testified yesterday that Yates said she planned the deaths and knew they were wrong.

Police say a grenade was found in HPD's accident division at 61 Reisner this afernoon; an investigation is under way (KPRC says the grenade was live, but KTRK is reporting it wasn't) A shipping truck wrecked and caught fire early this afternoon in the Katy Freeway HOV lane near Gessner, closing all outbound lanes; the freeway is not expected to fully reopen until 9 p.m. Dexter Johnson, accused of being the ringleader of the group...

Yesterday, the second day of Andrea Yates' retrial for the 2001 drowning deaths of her five children, a former cellmate of Yates' testified that Yates had described to her what it was like killing her kids, pointing out that the oldest, 7-year-old Noah, put up a fight. The two shared a cell at the Harris County Jail's psychiatric unit in May 2002.

Police have arrested three men — Bakari Holland, 18, Koty Holmes, 19, and Rashard Renfro, 23 — in connection with the carjacking Tuesday night that left a toddler dead A judge ruled today that Andrea Yates must turn herself in to the Harris County Jail by Monday evening to wait for her retrial in the 2001 drowning deaths of her children Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens' son Michael was charged with burglary after he was...

When David Carl Wormington was arrested in 2004 and charged with raping a tenant who lived on his Crosby property, he counted on his wife to post bail for him. When she not didn't, and ended up being a witness in the rape trial, he did exactly what you'd expect: He tried to hire a hit man to have her killed. We knew Crosbyites were watching too much HBO. Wormington, 47, was sentenced to 75...

John Hamilton Parker, a 15-year veteran of HPD, has been a hard worker this year. In January, he reported arresting a woman wanted on a drunk driving warrant and taking her to a county psychiatric center for a mental health evaluation. In February, he said he arrested a man wanted for the aggravated sexual assault of a child and transported him to the Harris County Jail. The problem: He apparently didn't actually do either of...

In the two weeks that Astros first base coach Jose Cruz's son has been missing, people have started wondering whether Jose Javier Cruz was actually missing or just hiding. And it's starting to look like the younger Cruz may be hiding: According to the Chronicle, he has been arrested on charges of robbery, assaulting his wife and stealing from his dad. And he's wanted in Puerto Rico on charges of theft and forgery. In short,...

So here's a Houston quiz: Do you know what and where Allen's Landing is? Houstonist wagers most Houstonians don't know what it is — or that, if they do, they've never been there. But the fact is, Allen's Landing is Houston's Plymouth Rock, the spot where those lovable real estate shysters Augustus and John Kirby Allen decided to build a town. Allen's Landing sits at the confluence of Buffalo and White Oak bayous, which form...