Quanell X

QUANELL X stared confidently into the television camera and told a heart-tugging tale about the frail man sitting by his side: Dennis Garnier was roughed up and disrespected, all because police didn't have their facts straight. A SWAT team burst into his house and hogtied him. It had the wrong address; the drug dealer lived a few doors down. Garnier has suffered memory loss and has become so scared of guns that he can't work as a security guard anymore.

HOUSTON -- An all-white jury found a white former city police officer not guilty Wednesday in the videotaped beating of 15-year-old African American burglary suspect Chad Holley, eliciting cries of outrage from community members. The jury had deliberated for less than a day. “The jury sent a message that the life of a black man don't mean a damn thing in Houston,” African American community activist Quanell X told the Los Angeles Times.

HOUSTON -- An all-white jury found a white former city police officer not guilty Wednesday in the videotaped beating of 15-year-old African American burglary suspect Chad Holley, eliciting cries of outrage from community members. The jury had deliberated for less than a day. “The jury sent a message that the life of a black man don't mean a damn thing in Houston,” African American community activist Quanell X told the Los Angeles Times.

QUANELL X stared confidently into the television camera and told a heart-tugging tale about the frail man sitting by his side: Dennis Garnier was roughed up and disrespected, all because police didn't have their facts straight. A SWAT team burst into his house and hogtied him. It had the wrong address; the drug dealer lived a few doors down. Garnier has suffered memory loss and has become so scared of guns that he can't work as a security guard anymore.

Fred Weary, a pro football player for the Houston Texans, was driving his maroon Chevy Impala SS last month when he was pulled over by police after failing to signal that he was changing lanes. What happened next is in dispute. Police say Weary was "verbally combative" and did not put his hands on his car when ordered. The 305-pound offensive lineman says he did what the officers told him.

When he saw two men pry into his neighbor's house with a crowbar one afternoon earlier this month, Joe Horn did what many people would do: He called 911. But when police had not shown up by the time the suspects were about to leave, the 61-year-old retiree did something most people probably would not: He stepped outside with his 12-gauge shotgun and killed them.

As graveyards go, the public cemetery here couldn't be lovelier: shaded, peaceful, well-maintained. "It looks like everybody dead over there is having a family reunion under the trees, it's so nice and pretty," said resident Lisa Ragston. Ragston, who is black, visits her father's grave regularly.