Quanell X Trial beginning

Officer recounts day of Quanell X's arrest
By RAD SALLEE
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

A Houston police detective investigating the shooting of a police officer testified today that officers following Quanell X and the suspected gunman but didn't move against the pair until becoming suspicious the community activist wasn't in control of the car that was supposed to heading to the police station.


Detective C.A. Abbondandolo gave a detailed description of the events leading to Quanell X's arrest as the activist's trial opened today.

Quanell X was charged with evading arrest on June 11 after police surrounded his vehicle and arrested him as he was bringing in Derrick Forney to surrender.

Abbondandolo said Quanell X had arranged to bring in Forney, who was accused of wounding Officer Matthew Richard during an arrest attempt on June 9.

Abbondandolo testified that Forney was supposed to surrender on the evening of June 10 but did not show up. The detective said the activist told him, "It wasn't going to happen, that Derrick Forney had been spooked and that he wasn't coming in Thursday night."

Abbondandolo testified that, the following morning, he got a call from Channel 11 reporter Jeff McShan advising him to go to the corner of Bissonnet and Beltway 8.

The detective said that he and seven other detectives in unmarked cars went to the intersection and saw a black Hummer containing Forney and driven by Quanell X.

The vehicle head toward downtown on the Southwest Freeway with detectives following at a safe distance, he said.

"We wanted to be very sure that we did not lose Derrick Forney under any circumstance," Abbondandolo said.

All went as expected, he said, until they reached the West Loop, where the Hummer turned south and continued to Texas 288. It then exited onto Yellowstone Street near the shooting suspect's neighborhood, arousing suspicion that Quanell X was no longer in control, the detective said.

At that point, Abbondandolo testified, he called for assistance from patrol officers.

The Hummer reversed direction, crossed the median and re-entered 288, where it was surrounded. Police then arrested Forney and Quanell X.

Defense attorney Stan Schneider asked for a mistrial shortly before lunch, saying that prosecutors had failed to provide the defense with a statement made by Assistant Police Chief Chuck McClellan.

Assistant District Attorney Denise Nassar said defense attorneys were given the statement and all other investigative documents they were entitled to.

State District Judge Brock Thomas denied the motion.

Quanell X and his followers are supposedly black activists ?

In my opinion, they have done much to hurt the black community here in Houston.

In this instance, Quanell X was delivering a fugitive to the law. How that hurts the community I fail to see.

Hi Edgar, I saw this story online this morning...I know he was delivering a fugitive...and that is to be commended. I think his arrest is silly, actually. I do hope that they are not being picked on...and that the arrest was honest on HPD's part. Anyhow, in my opinion, when any (white, black, red gay, yellow) group protests for only one group of people, I think that it divides us even more.

If Quanell X wants to help blacks with whatever they need help with...fine. But he should reach out to all who need help. As his group stands today, they scare me.

If I knew he was for all who are needy, I'm happy.

He is for his own people, to their advancement. I agree that he sometimes acts foolishly, but in the final analysis he seeks to be a force for good.

Reporter urged police to 'honor deal' with Quanell X
By DALE LEZON
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Quanell X
A Houston television reporter testified today that he was in touch with both police and Quanell X as the activist tried to bring an accused cop-shooter to police headquarters.

Jeff McShan of KHOU Channel 11 said he urged a Houston police detective to "honor the deal" and allow Quanell X to bring Derrick Forney in to surrender.

The activist and Forney were arrested on a freeway on June 11 after being surrounded by patrol cars. Quanell X is on trial on a charge of evading arrest, accused of disobeying police orders to stop.

He contends that he believed police were escorting him to downtown headquarters at 1200 Travis.

Under questioning by defense attorney Stanley Schneider, McShan said Quanell X had called him on the night of June 10 and told him that he was going to bring Forney in.

That plan later was dropped, but at about 8 or 8:30 a.m. on June 11, Quanell X called and said he wanted to try again, McShan said.

The reporter said he met Quanell X at a gas station at Beltway 8 and Bissonnet at about 10:30 a.m. and got into the front passenger seat of the activist's Hummer.

They discussed the negotiations for Forney's surrender, McShan said, and then Quanell told him to turn around and look into the back seat.

McShan said he saw Forney lying on the floor with a blanket over him. He appeared to be wearing a bulletproof vest.

"I had to catch my breath," McShan said. "I didn't expect to see Mr. Forney. I was scared, to be honest with you, because the man had shot a police officer. He could have been armed at that moment."

After he got out of the Hummer, McShan said, he used his cellular phone to call police Detective C.P. Abbondandolo.

"I told Abbey (that) Forney was with Mr. X and he would be turning him in at approx 11:30," McShan told jurors.

"I told Abbey that he should honor the deal and let Mr. X take Mr. Forney to 1200 Travis."

McShan said he believed that police had made an arrangement with Quanell X to turn in the fugitive at police headquarters.

Forney is suspected of shooting Officer Matthew Richard on June 9 as Richard and other officers tried to serve a warrant, who had skipped a May court appearance on a weapon charge.

On Thursday, a Houston police officer testified that the acting chief told the activist not to stop for squad cars as he was driving to police headquarters to turn in a fugitive.

But the chief testified that he told Quanell X he would try to "allow him to peacefully surrender" at the downtown office.

Quanell X, referred to in court papers as Quanell X Abdul Farrakhan, was charged with evading arrest June 11 after police said he refused to stop, even when surrounded by patrol cars using their sirens and emergency lights.

The state rested its case Thursday after three days of testimony. The trial was halted Wednesday after a man made "vague threats" in a phone call to one of Quanell X's defense attorneys. HPD took the man into custody, but he was released without charges.

Defense witness HPD Lt. Gregory Hunstman testified that Executive Assistant Police Chief Charles McClelland told him that he had instructed Quanell X to "keep going" after the activist had informed the chief that squad cars were following him.

But McClelland, who was acting chief June 11, testified he told the activist that "I would find out what officers were following him and give them instructions to allow him to peacefully surrender at 1200 Travis (police headquarters)."

He said he never was able to speak with the officers following the activist's black Hummer.

Allen Baquet, a civilian manager in the office of the police chief, testified that former Chief C.O. Bradford established a protocol for Quanell X to accompany suspects willing to surrender to authorities.

It included ensuring that the suspects and Quanell X had no weapons and that they came to police headquarters, Baquet said. He said Quanell X had accompanied about 15 suspects as they surrendered to police in recent years.

Baquet testified that McClelland told him to work with the activist to bring in Forney.

Outside the presence of the jury, Bradford testified he had established the guidelines for Quanell X's efforts and that they had worked well.

The trial before State District Judge Brock Thomas continues today.

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Dumbass decision. edgar


A jury today found Quanell X guilty of fleeing a police officer, a lesser offense than the charge of evading arrest he received when a fugitive was found in his car in June.


The jury had the option of convicting him on a lesser charge if all the conditions for that offense were met.

State Criminal District Judge Brock Thomas sentenced Quanell X to six months probation, a $300 fine and 30 hours of community service.

I predict you're going to have some racial trouble in Houston, following this 'dumbass decision.' The facts in the case seem to speak pretty clearly for themselves, especially given that reporter's testimony.

I live right in the heart of the city and never see or hear of racial trouble. I've been hear 34 yrs. now.

The only intolerance I've seen has been on this site between Kerry supporters and Bush supporters.

Of course, this is my view.

By and large, Houston is a pretty tolerant city. Because of the size and diversity there will always be some problems. In Quanell X's case, I think some of the cops were acting out of rage against him, but they didn't really get very far.

Yeah, I think you're right about the cops/rage part. That's probably a whole'nother topic in itself....police/stress/rage.

Yes, I'd say we have some of the nicest, coolest, folks around the south.

Quanell X helps pair of fugitives turn selves in
Two are wanted for questioning in woman's death
By ROBERT CROWE and PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Quanell X is not out of the fugitive business yet, helping Friday to surrender a couple wanted for questioning in the death of a 77-year-old woman during a purse-snatching last month.

The community activist, however, arranged to have the pair picked up by Harris County sheriff's deputies, rather than Houston police. The deputies then turned the couple over to city investigators for questioning in the death of Sarah Pinckard, who died Oct. 30.

The arrangement came just four days after a Harris County jury found Quanell X guilty of a misdemeanor count of fleeing police, stemming from his June 11 arrest by HPD while he was trying to surrender a fugitive to downtown headquarters.

He originally was charged with a felony count of evading arrest after police officers surrounded his Hummer and forced it off the road on Texas 288, en route to the HPD headquarters at 1200 Travis.

Quanell X and his lawyers said they would appeal the conviction.

The activist's arrest and the controversy it sparked led Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt to change department policy to bar private citizens from arranging to bring suspects or fugitives to police. Under the new policy, citizens can call police to pick up wanted individuals.

Prior to his arrest, Quanell X had been involved in the arranged surrenders of more than a dozen fugitives under guidelines enacted by former Police Chief C.O. Bradford, police officials testified during his trial.

On Friday, Quanell X said he called both HPD and the Sheriff's Department after being contacted by Andre Miles, 40, and Cynthia Mitchell Melvin, 53.

"They were both worried and afraid that they would probably be harmed, so I began to contact the Sheriff's Department," Quanell X said.

The activist said he had called HPD, but no one from the department had returned his calls before Sheriff's Department investigators contacted him.

HPD spokesman John Cannon denied that, saying Quanell X had told Capt. Dale Brown of the homicide division on Friday that Miles and Melvin were interested in surrendering.

"They discussed surrender of two suspects, and that Quanell X told him he would call him back, but he never called back," Cannon said. "Any reports of us not cooperating are not true."

Sgt. Larry Hall of the criminal warrants division at the Sheriff's Department said Miles and Melvin surrendered to deputies at the New Black Panther Nation headquarters at 4401 Lyons without incident. Deputies took the pair into custody, then released them to Houston police.

Houston police questioned Miles and Melvin in the Oct. 29 purse-snatching in a grocery store parking lot at 4800 W. Bellfort. Pinckard was badly injured outside the store and died the next day at Ben Taub General Hospital. Someone used her stolen credit card 25 minutes after her purse was stolen to buy gas and again later in the night at a food market.

Witnesses said Pinckard was walking to her car when someone in a blue or silver Ford sport utility vehicle drove up next to her and took her purse. After the vehicle sped away, shoppers found Pinckard lying on the ground, bleeding from the head.

Police this week released surveillance photos of Miles and Melvin.

Cannon said the pair did not cooperate with police Friday. They were expected to spend the night in a city lockup before being transferred to the county jail. Neither has been charged in Pinckard's death, but both were charged in connection with another purse snatching on Oct. 29.

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