Deer Park Teen charged with manslaughter

by Andrew Horansky/KHOU and Nikki Metzgar/KHOU.com

khou.com

Posted on August 3, 2012 at 11:33 AM

Updated Friday, Aug 3 at 5:52 PM

DEER PARK, Texas—A Deer Park teenager has been charged with manslaughter for allegedly causing a crash that killed Andreaka Bell and injured another passenger almost one year ago.

Taylar Braden, 19, is accused of causing Bell’s death by driving her car at an excessive speed, failing to maintain proper lookout, failing to control the speed of her car, failing to maintain a single lane, consuming alcohol unlawfully and speeding above the posted speed.

The investigation into the accident fell apart when the Deer Park Police Department revealed it had failed to interview witnesses or to test Braden’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash.

The family of 18-year old Bell knew that without information from the scene, it would be difficult to file charges.

They launched an online petition to bring attention to their case, which finally went before a judge on Friday.

Prosecutors determined that there was enough evidence to move forward with manslaughter charges against Braden.

Investigators say that Braden drove her friends Bell and Ashley Broussard to a house party on August 13, 2011.

Bell stayed in the back seat of the car to sleep, Broussard said to police.

She also said that they played drinking games before Braden got involved in a fight with another male guest. Witnesses say that when Braden threw a beer at the man, the owner of the house asked everyone to leave.

That’s when Braden allegedly got into the driver seat, with Broussard on the passenger side and Bell still asleep in the back.

Broussard told police that Braden sped in order to catch up with the young man she had fought with earlier.

Braden lost control of the car, which flipped onto its roof, ejecting both Braden and Bell on the 4300 block of West Pasadena Boulevard.

They were flown to Memorial Hermann, where Bell later died.

Broussard suffered from fractures on both sides of her hips, compressed discs in her spine and cuts and bruises, according to court documents.

In an interview with police, Braden said that there were alcoholic beverages at the party and that she was the person driving the car, but that she did not remember if she drank anything.

Investigators reconstructed the scene of the accident and believe that Braden was driving at least 88 miles per hour where the speed limit was 40.

Braden’s mother denies that her daughter was drunk.

"I had two nurses minimal in that hospital, I asked ‘was there anything in her system?’" Cynthia Bienvenue said. "They said no."

She said that her daughter has two-year old son and is considering going back to school. If convicted, Braden could spend anywhere from 2 to 20 years in prison and pay up to a $20,000 fine.

The Deer Park officer in charge at the time of the investigation is no longer with the department

Deer Park family's dog mistakenly euthanized.

By Tiffany Craig / KHOU 11 News

DEER PARK, Texas — A dog owner in Deer Park is trying to make sense out of how her dog was euthanized.

It happened last week when a note was left at her door. It read, “Dog was loose and attacked mail carrier please call.”

So, Rosalyn Pichon called Deer Park Animal Control.

“I said, 'I’m the lady that you left the card in the door,'” said Pichon. “I said,  'What happened?' He said, 'Well he attacked the mailman, but he didn’t bite the mailman.'”

Pichon says her 10-year-old chow and pit bull mix named Newt wasn’t aggressive and questioned what really happened.

Nonetheless, her dog was picked up on Monday and she called first thing Tuesday about picking him up. She called again on Wednesday and agreed that between her work schedule and the pound’s hours, that Friday would work best.

That was, until her phone rang on Thursday.

“The supervisor called me Thursday morning at work and there was a mix up,” she recalled from the conversation. “We euthanized your dog, and I said, ‘What do you mean? I was coming to get him.’”

No one from Deer Park Animal Control would talk on camera, but did provide information on this case by phone. A supervisor admitted a mistake was made when an employee didn’t pass the word that the owner had called and planned to pick up the dog. 

Disciplinary action is being taken against that employee.

In the meantime, a supervisor did offer Pichon another pet.

“He said, 'If you want to, you can come and get a puppy,'” said Pichon. “I said, 'No way.' What would I get a puppy for? That’s not supposed to make me feel like everything is OK.
”

Historic rain hits Houston area

CBS/AP) HOUSTON - Historic rainfall levels that drenched the Houston area this week flooded dozens of homes and caused widespread street flooding, but the rain also is likely to result in the end of drought conditions in Southeast Texas, officials said Friday.

Officials estimated that fewer than 100 homes were flooded after Cypress Creek, located in the northwest part of the Houston area, rose above its banks after getting about 14 inches of rain over the past couple of days, said Francisco Sanchez, a spokesman for the Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

County officials were still trying to reach flooded neighborhoods oan Friday to better assess the damage, but initial reports had homes affected anywhere from a few inches to a couple of feet of water, Sanchez said.

"Some areas along Cypress Creek got more rain in the last 24 hours than in Hurricane Ike (in 2008) or from major flooding in 1998," Sanchez said.

CBS Affiliate KHOU reports it will be mostly dry Saturday morning, but there is a 60-percent chance of rain beginning in the afternoon.

A flood warning is in effect until 8:50 a.m. Sunday for northwest Harris County and Montgomery County. A flood warning is in effect until 10 Sunday night for the Spring Creek area of Harris County.

In northwest Harris County, a good portion of the subdivision called the Enchanted Valley Estates was only accessible by boat. Homeowners could be seen using canoes, pontoon boats and even a jet ski to navigate around the area.

Firefighters rescued several families from the Norchester subdivision near Cypress Creek Friday when two to three feet of water seeped into their homes overnight.

Several people also had to be rescued early Friday morning after driving into high water.

Gary Whitaker Jr., who lives in one of the areas affected by Cypress Creek, said street flooding in his neighborhood had started to recede on Friday but a nearby subdivision still had streets that were impassable. Water from the creek was flowing "like a waterfall" across one street and into a golf course, he said.

"Quite a few people in our subdivision couldn't go to work today. They couldn't get out (due to flooded streets). It was pretty risky," he said.

Whitaker, 36, who lives in Cypress, an unincorporated area in northwest Harris County, said there were no reports of flooded homes in his neighborhood.

The American Red Cross in Houston sent out workers Friday to affected neighborhoods to assess the flooded homes, said spokesman Cameron Ballantyne. The agency had not opened any shelters.

In Montgomery County, located just north of Harris County, officials reported seven to eight flooded homes.

A shelter had been opened in Montgomery County at Living Stones Church in Magnolia, but church secretary Linda Arnold said no residents had used the facility.

Victor Murphy, a climate expert with the National Weather Service, said one rain gauge on the border of Harris and Waller counties recorded 10.3 inches of rain in a 10 hour period.

Murphy said that amount of precipitation within that short period of time suggests that area experienced a "100-year rainfall event," which caused Cypress Creek to overflow.

Other areas in Southeast Texas also got large amounts of rain, including just west of Bay City in Matagorda County, which received about 18 inches this past week.

"Rainfall in the entire (Southeast Texas) area this week was in the 8 to 10 inch category," he said. "The average weekly rainfall for this time of year is about 1 inch or so."

While the current U.S. Drought Monitor shows some parts of Southeast Texas as being abnormally dry, that does not include this week's rainfall totals.

"When the next U.S. Drought Monitor comes out Thursday, there will not be any drought in Southeast Texas," Murphy said. Most of the rest of the state was expected to remain in drought conditions.

Even if Southeast Texas only experiences average rainfall or dry weather the rest of the summer, drought conditions should be kept at bay until at least the fall, Murphy said.

Sanchez said officials were hopeful Cypress Creek, which was still rising Friday, would eventually recede if the area was not inundated with more rain. Water levels at two other nearby creeks which had also flowed out of their banks, had started to fall.

Rain was forecast for this weekend but the chances of showers were expected to be lower than earlier this week.

Deer Park Police get grant to curb drunk drivers

DEER PARK POLICE DEPT. RELEASE

The Deer Park Police Department has been awarded the Impaired Driver Mobilization Grant through the Texas Department of Transportation. The grant is in conjunction with the states “Drink. Drive. Go To Jail” campaign which will allow the department to provide extra staffing hours between June 30, 2012 – July 8, 2012 with the sole purpose of locating and arresting impaired drivers. To accomplish this we will be saturating the high risk areas with extra patrol to ensure compliance through visibility and enforcement.

In addition Deer Park Police will be working with the Harris County District Attorney's Office to obtain search warrants for blood specimens in support of the Statewide "No Refusal" process, when a suspected drunk driver refuses to provide a breath specimen.

Through these efforts we hope to make Deer Park a safer place for you and your loved ones.

High Voltage team takes first place in robot competition

Forty-four students and 12 sponsors from Carpenter Elementary, Bonnette Junior High, Deepwater Junior High, Deer Park Junior High, Fairmont Junior High, and Deer Park High School-South Campus loaded up a charter bus to head for the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) State Robotics Contest in Irving to compete April 13-14 against 185 other teams.

DPHS-South Campus’ team placed second among 32 other teams in Advanced Inventions. The team’s winning entry was “The Fire Storm,” a robot that searches around the forest looking for wildfires. Team members were Kyle Smithson, Josee Records, and Gary Lei. Cynthia Smithson and Scott Carroll were sponsors.

Deer Park Junior High’s “High Voltage” team of Cody Scarcella and Dawson Duncan placed first against 56 other teams in Intermediate Arena, while the school’s “J-Squared” team of Jacob Henson and Jacob Dyer placed fourth. Sponsors were Stacy Phillips and Leisa Davidson.

Carpenter Elementary students Brent Russell, Damian Caballero, Trevor Gibbs, and Joshua Mize placed 13th in the Intermediate Arena category, while the team of Danny Armendariz, Ethan Smith, Alex Coatney, and Wyatt Hale placed 27th. Carpenter sponsors were Terri Armendariz and Lindsey Taylor. Fifty-seven teams competed in the event.

TCEA’s Area 4 Robotics Competition for schools in the Houston area took place at Fairmont Junior High on Jan. 15. In addition to the aforementioned teams, many other Deer Park students qualified for state competition, including DPHS-South Campus students Cameron Alexander, Taylor Black, and Aminadab Morales, who competed in Advanced Arena. Another group from South Campus---Matthew Walmsley, Cameron Manley, and Holden Berryhill---advanced to state competition in Advanced Inventions.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE 

Teacher’s aide resigns over concerns of mistreatment.

THE CHRON:

A teacher’s aide in Deer Park schools whose concern about the mistreatment of special education students led to the resignations of two teachers last month has quit her job, citing the school district’s refusal to fire the teachers, a school district official confirmed.

Whitney Bertrand, the former special education aide at Fairmont Junior High School, turned in her resignation March 21, said Matt Lucas, spokesman for the Deer Park Independent School District.

Bertrand’s reports of mistreatment of special education students at the hands of a teacher prompted that teacher to resign, as well as another teacher who failed to report the incident to officials.

Bertrand told Houston’s Fox 26 News that she quit in protest of the district’s refusal to fire the teachers.

I’m not going to work for a district that does not have the best interest of the kids. I just won’t do it. … When I heard the screaming and the crying, I just couldn’t listen to any more of it. … It ripped me apart. I just couldn’t handle it.

Parent Sheri Graham said that she and her husband were shocked to learn of how the special ed teacher treated their 13-year-old son at Fairmont.

“We were notified by three aides in the classroom that on Dec. 5 (2011), the teacher taunted, mocked and put my son in time out almost all day long,” said Graham, whose three children attend Deer Park schools.

Graham said the teacher sprayed her son in the face with a water bottle and forced him to fold towels repeatedly. The mother also accused the teacher of ridiculing her son for not being able to tie his shoes and told him he could not come out of time out until he could.

Lucas, of Deer Park ISD, said the school district conducted an investigation that included input from the teacher’s aide and the teachers. “Ultimately,” he said, “the (Deer Park Independent) School Board ruled in favor of the district, which affirmed the decision not to terminate those two teachers.”

Bertrand told Fox 26 that district officials launched a cover-up when news of the incident was reported in the media. Lucas sees it another way.

“She (Bertrand) was asked not to speak to anybody at the beginning of the process because allegations were being made and it’s important for people not to talk to other people while the investigation is taking place,” he said.

“Later on, as it broke in the media, she was told that we have a district spokesman,” Lucas said. “There was never any kind of retaliation or drawbacks from talking to the media.”

Meanwhile, several parents have filed a formal complaint with the Texas Education Agency against the school district in the case.

Theft charges dropped on local cop

DEER PARK, TEXAS — Theft charges have been dropped against a suburban Houston cop accused of stealing co-workers' food from the police station refrigerator.

A sting operation by the Deer Park Police Department netted Officer Kevin Yang. Police Chief Greg Griggs had said surveillance cameras caught Yang repeatedly stealing colleagues' food and drinks from the refrigerator in the station's break room.

Yang was charged with misdemeanor theft and suspended for 30 days without pay. According to a statement issued by the city, Yang agreed not to sue the city over the investigation if the class C misdemeanor charge was dropped.

Yang is back on duty after his 30-day suspension, which cost him $4,500 in lost pay. A class C misdemeanor conviction would have meant a fine of no more than $50