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- José Campos Torres (December 20, 1953 – May 5, 1977) was a 23-year-old Mexican-American and veteran who was beaten by several Houston Police Department (HPD) officers, which subsequently led to his death. He had been brutally assaulted by a group of on-duty police officers on May 5, 1977, after being arrested for disorderly conduct at a bar in Houston's Mexican-American East End neighborhood. After Torres' arrest at the bar, the officers took him to the city jail for booking. But his injuries were so extensive that a supervisor instead ordered the officers to take Torres to a local hospital for immediate medical treatment. The officers did not comply with the order, and three days later, his severely beaten dead body was found floating in the Buffalo Bayou, a creek on the outskirts of downtown Houston. Following the discovery of Torres' body, two of the arresting officers, Terry W. Denson and Stephen Orlando, were charged with murder. Three other officers were fired from the HPD by Police Chief B.G. Bond, but no criminal charges were brought against them. A rookie officer who was present at the scenes of Torres' torture and drowning was a key witness for the prosecution. Denson and Orlando were convicted at the state level for Torres' death, and found guilty of negligent homicide (a misdemeanor). An all-white jury sentenced the officers to one year's probation and a one dollar fine. The racial composition of the jury, and the minimized criminal convictions and sentencing sparked community outrage, leading to multiple protests and the 1978 Moody Park Riot. His death led to negotiations between advocacy-based non-profits and HPD officials, which resulted in the addition of policies that addressed police-community racial relations. Following the State of Texas' controversial convictions of the two former officers, the Torres case was reviewed at the federal level by the U.S. Department of Justice, which led to three of the officers' federal convictions for violating Torres' civil rights. Torres' murder generated significant newspaper coverage across the United States. Initially, it focused on his assault and drowning, but soon it turned its attention to the historic racism, lack of HPD over-watch and the recurring absence of state and federal investigations. Later, a locally produced documentary appeared, entitled The Case of Joe Campos Torres, which focused on the history of police misconduct in Houston. In the year following his death, a poetic song by vocalist and activist Gil Scott-Heron appeared, titled "Poem for José Campos Torres", reflecting the struggles surrounding racism and police brutality. On Saturday April 2, 2022 The City of Houston unveiled the Joe Campos Torres Memorial Plaza and trail along Buffalo Bayou. It is meant to remember the life of Torres and the impact his murder had on his family and the community. Mayor Sylvester Turner said of the memorial "Mr. Campos Torres was brutally murdered in 1977. Nothing we do will bring him back to his loved ones. The monument will send a message; his life mattered, and our city will never let something like this happen again." Shawn Carreon, Torres' nephew, was quoted as well saying "Today is just to celebrate my uncle, Joe Campos Torres. My moms [sic] brother. I know she's been hurting and my grandmother has been hurting for the longest time, but now they can finally have some peace," (en)
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- 41385 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger)
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- 2017-11-29 (xsd:date)
- 2018-01-01 (xsd:date)
- 2018-02-12 (xsd:date)
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- Dwight Watson (en)
- Michael Ramos (en)
- Harry Robinson, Former Houston Police Chief (en)
- Janie Torres (en)
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- Houston, Texas (en)
- Floating in the Buffalo Bayou (en)
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- 2 (xsd:integer)
- 5 (xsd:integer)
- 8 (xsd:integer)
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- Reaction to light sentencing of police officers in the murder of Joe Campos Torres (en)
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- • Civil rights • Ending police brutality • Ending police racism (en)
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- Unknown (en)
- approximately 1,500 (en)
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- Police murder victim (en)
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- • Arson • Assault • Looting • Rioting • Shooting • Property damage (en)
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- (en)
- José Luna Torres (en)
- Margaret Campos Torres (en)
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- Moody Park; Houston, Texas, U.S. (en)
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- Law (en)
- Poetry (en)
- Biography (en)
- Hispanic and Latino Americans (en)
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- Law enforcement (en)
- Houston's Hispanic community (en)
- News team (en)
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- Album: The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron (en)
- Houston History Magazine (en)
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- 8.520552E8 (dbd:second)
- So many people think of what happened to José Campos Torres, but I got [to] thinking about him as a person, who he was, what he felt, how he lived. (en)
- "Wow I was amazed, it was something that was so well, well over due for the people" she continued, "Justice is equal, justice is what we deserve that's all we want, we don't want anymore any less." (en)
- It brought people who were very conservative and very quiet to become very vocal and very political and people began to hold the police accountable. (en)
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| dbp:title
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- 1978 (xsd:integer)
- 1.262304E9 (dbd:second)
- "Poem for José Campos Torres" (en)
- The Zen of Revolution (en)
- "Moody Park–The Aftermath", interview by Houston Public Media (en)
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- José Campos Torres (December 20, 1953 – May 5, 1977) was a 23-year-old Mexican-American and veteran who was beaten by several Houston Police Department (HPD) officers, which subsequently led to his death. He had been brutally assaulted by a group of on-duty police officers on May 5, 1977, after being arrested for disorderly conduct at a bar in Houston's Mexican-American East End neighborhood. (en)
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- Murder of Joe Campos Torres (en)
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