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Waco Biker Massacre: 9 Dead, 178 Arrested, Charged With Murder, $1 Million Bail, Held In Jail For Weeks, Some Need Medical Attention, No Evidence Presented Before in Court, Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit Filed

I'm getting to this story late. The Massacre actually happened on May 17th.

At first, I figured it was just a biker brawl, and it may well have been exactly that.

But that is no reason to hold 178 people in jail for weeks on end, under the charge of murder, when almost none of those people were involved in the violence. Indeed, many of them likely did not even flash a weapon.

Some of these people need medical attention:

The Southern Nevada Confederation of Clubs has stated that the jail is desperately overcrowded, that some prisoners are not being fed and that others cannot get needed medical attention.

A week ago a Bandido named Jeff Battey had to post a $1 million bond before he could go to a Dallas hospital to have bullet fragments removed from his arm.

Yesterday on its Facebook page, the Southern Nevada COC said it had received the following messages from “family members” of men who were rounded up in the indiscriminate mass arrests that followed the shooting deaths of nine men and the hospitalization of 17 more following a barrage of gunfire outside the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on May 17.

Please Help “Third world conditions – please help!”

“My husband still has a bullet in his chest and can’t use his right hand. He has a heart condition, has a stint and a-fib, and they are trying to change his medication. He is afraid he might bleed out in his cell.”

“Heart meds not being disbursed. Has bullet in chest and cannot feel hand. Believes he has nerve damage but they will not treat him”

“My brother is type 1 diabetic and is not receiving insulin. His blood sugar is 550.”

“Meds not being distributed – takes insulin”

“Blood pressure meds not being given”

“No blankets or pillows. Sleeping on cold floors”

“Husband just had back surgery and was on prescription meds for pain. Simply decided to go to the meeting to get out of the house. He was told he was being given a sleep med and instead they gave him ADHD /bi-polar medication. He has also not eaten anything for almost 10 days now since surgery”

It seems these people are being incarcerated for not telling the police what they want to hear:

So far, authorities in Waco have been oblique about how 26 men came to be shot; what part police played in the massacre, or why people who self-evidently had nothing to do with the shooting were arrested and charged with murder.

McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna has intimated that the bikers are being punished for not telling police what police want to hear.

In an interview with television station KXXV, Reyna said “I’ve heard enough about my person was a victim and most of the people were victims. Well, guess what? If they’re victims they shouldn’t have any problem coming to law enforcement and cooperating to be sure justice is done and the individuals solely responsible are brought to justice. And, through the first round of interviews we aren’t getting that.”

The hard news in this case portrays the city of Waco and McLennan County as rogue governments that have gone mad. The Waco Tribune-Herald reports “McLennan County is spending $7,958 a day to house those jailed in the May 17 Twin Peaks shootout.

So far, the county has spent more than $80,000 to arrest and incarcerate people who went to a brunch in Waco and then tried to avoid getting shot.

Only two men, Battey and Christopher Stainton have made bail so far. Neither man has a criminal record. Both are required to wear an electronic monitoring device and observe a curfew while they await their day in court. As of this morning, 175 of the 177 people arrested in the vicinity of the May 17 shooting remain locked up.

Thirty-four men have filed for a reduction in their bonds. About a score of those have bond reduction hearings set for either June 5, 12 or 19.

Most of the prisoners haven’t filed for bond hearings because they do not yet have lawyers.

Seventy-five of the alleged murderers have requested a public defender.

There are only 29 lawyers in McLennan County qualified for the job. The County has 26 prosecutors.

When the story first broke, police apparently admitted that they shot at least some of those who wound up dead:

WACO, Texas — At least some of the bikers involved in a gang fight Sunday that left nine people dead and 18 injured were shot by police, authorities said.

The violence erupted shortly after noon at a busy Waco shopping center along Interstate 35 that draws a large lunchtime crowd. Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said eight people died at the scene of the shooting at Twin Peaks restaurant and another person died at a hospital.

Preliminary findings indicate a dispute broke out in a bathroom and then spilled into the restaurant where it escalated to include knives and firearms, he said. There were 150 to 200 gang members inside the restaurant at the time.

During the melee, officers shot armed bikers, Swanton said, adding that the actions of law enforcement prevented further deaths.

It was not known if any of the nine dead were killed by police officers. Police fired upon bikers when weapons were pointed toward them, police told the Austin American-Statesman. However, amid the chaos, it wasn't wasn't clear who shot whom.

No officers were injured, police said.

To this day, there has been no further admissions from police, no further evidence presented, no clarification from police.

This ought to be simple. Ballistics tests will show who shot whom.

When will such evidence be forthcoming?

How do police and District Attorneys justify holding 177 people in jail for murder when they can't say who was involved beyond those who wound up dead or wounded?

The good news is, yesterday, one of the bikers arrested filed a Federal Civil Rights lawsuit:

In his lawsuit, filed in federal court in Waco Friday, Clendennen said he "did not encourage or solicit any criminal activity at Twin Peaks that day." It states he was arrested "without probable cause and his motorcycle was illegally seized."

His lawsuit names the city of Waco and the McLennen County sheriff's as well as individual officers working the Twin Peaks case.

"It was the policy of the City of Waco, as decided and approved by their policymakers, to cause the arrest and detention of numerous individuals belonging to motorcycle clubs who were in or around the Twin Peaks restaurant at the time of the incident, regardless of whether or not there was individualized probable cause to arrest and detain a particular individual and to do so based on "fill in the name" complaints without individualized facts," the lawsuit states.

It makes no specified claim of damages, but says Clendennen's constitutional rights were violated.

More information from Aging Rebel:

Scimitar Motorcycle Club member Matthew Alan Clendennen (above) is also suing Waco police officer Manuel Chavez, who signed the criminal complaint against Clendennen and up to 177 other arrestees.

Chavez’ criminal complaint states that “I hereby state upon my oath that I have reason to believe and do believe that heretofore, and before making and filing of this complaint, that on or about May 17, 2015 in McLennan County, Texas, the said Clendennen, Matthew Alan did then and there, as a member of a criminal street gang, commit or conspire to commit murder, capital murder, or aggravated assault against the laws of the State.”

Fill In The Name

The lawsuit notes that “the identical criminal complaint used in Plaintiff Matthew Alan Clendennen’s case was used to justify the arrest of more than 100 other individuals and only the names were changed in the various criminal complaints.

The complaint alleges absolutely no individualized probable cause to establish that Plaintiff Matthew Alan Clendennen engaged in organized criminal activity

“At the time of Plaintiff Matthew Alan Clendennen’s arrest, the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the United States Constitution required probable cause to arrest a citizen before the citizen’s liberty could be significantly restrained. Chavez, aided by Does 1-10 and/or Does 11-20, presented the criminal complaint to (Justice of the Peace Walter H. “Pete”) Peterson when no reasonably competent police officer in Chavez’ position could have concluded that a warrant should be issued against Plaintiff Matthew Alan Clendennen based on the allegations against him in the ‘fill in the name’ criminal complaint.

“In addition, Chavez, aided by Does 1-10 and/or Does 11-20, intentionally withheld material information regarding Plaintiff Matthew Alan Clendennen in the criminal complaint such as the facts that he was not a member of the Cossacks nor the Bandidos, that he did not participate in any of the violence occurring at Twin Peaks and, in fact, hid from the violence.”

The suit names 20 police officers as simply Jane or John Doe.

Clenenden is a graduate of Baylor University, in addition to being labeled a pariah for being a member of a Motorcycle club:

Clendennen is a resident of nearby Hewitt, Texas and a 2011 graduate of Baylor University.

The 30-year-old, married father of four and employer of six “has no previous criminal record.”

Over at the Aging Rebel site, a commenter named Erkman69 made an important observation:

This whole thing sickens me. It was the clubs that kept Harley Davidson from becoming a memory when they were owned by AMF.

Where are they?

There were bikers that supported the bundy ranch when blm thugs threatend them with m16’s.

Where are they?

Bikers always show up when people need them, dammit,where are they now?

I am doing all i can to get support for the jailed bikers. Seems no one really cares, but i do. My family does, we will continue to tell all we know about this tyranny. I wish people would listen.

First they came for the bikers…

- The Atlantic Monthly Publishes Article, "wace Is Suppressing Evidence That Could Clear Innocent Bikers"
From the Atlantic: The city is fighting to keep videos of the May shootout at the Twin Peaks restaurant out of the press, and still hasn’t confirmed how many victims were shot by police.Why is Waco, Texas, fighting to suppress multiple videos of the...

- Waco Biker Massacre: Detective Who Filed 177 Fill-in-the-blank Affidavits Admits He Doesn't Have Evidence On All Defendants?
From the Aging Rebel: Detective Manuel Chavez has admitted to a defense attorney that he perjured himself when he presented a fill in the name criminal complaint to Justice of the Peace Walter H. “Pete” Peterson on May 18. Chavez presented the...

- Bikers Jailed After Waco Shootout Say Court System Failed Them
Of course if this were Ferguson or Baltimore there would be riots and looting pillaging burning and so on. We'd have a state's attorney calling for the heads of all the SWAT and police in Waco. Barack Obama saying if he had a biker he would look...

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ACLU: ‘Overzealous’ Waco police holding many bikers without charges The Legendary: The Executive Director of the Texas ACLU locked horns with Waco Police.Terri Burke accused the cops of holding many of the more than 170 defendants arrested following...

- Updated ----- Texas Tyranny: Waco Judge Agrees To Let Most Bikers Go – If They Sign A Contract Vowing Not To Sue For Wrongful Arrest
UPDATE --- HOUSTON ATTORNEY RETRACTS ACCUSATION TEXAS TYRANNY: WACO JUDGE AGREES TO LET MOST BIKERS GO – IF THEY SIGN A CONTRACT VOWING NOT TO SUE FOR WRONGFUL ARREST “It appears the public defenders office in McLennan County is involved...

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