Knox City Protestors Claim Injustice At City Hall
By: Brendaliss Gonzalez
Updated: July 13, 2012
"My sons been harassed, hes been put in jail for a fight that he did not do," said Beatrice Collins.
"They go get a Coke and the cops put them on the ground," said Anna Gutierrez.
But it was one man's story that really set the spark for protest.
"It's pretty bad that we cant get a Coke at the Coke machine and on your way get bullied and stuff by somebody with a badge," said Joe Gutierrez who was born and raised in Knox City.
Gutierrez claims a Knox City police officer took his police privileges too far.
He claims the officer "Maced and held at gunpoint and just run over by a car."
Gutierrez says he's filed a complaint at City Hall and hopes to hire an attorney to represent him.
That experience is what lead Michael Frausto to post a comment on Facebook about the incident.
Almost one hundred responded with similar stories.
"People were just concerned, people just couldn't believe that after Joe was hit by the vehicle the patrol car and pepper sprayed and then held at gunpoint that after that he was never even issued a citation," said Frausto.
That simple post lead to a rally in front of City Hall.
Plenty of residents gathered across the street to take a look at the action, most of whom don't agree with the claims.
"I just think that more or less that a lot of them think that hes picking on certain ones and I don't think that's true," said Sylvia Garcia, a Knox City resident for 42 years.
Neither the chief of police or city official would make a comment for us tonight.
Protestors say they're not backing down until they get an answer.
"I just hope that they realize that we are people here in Knox City and were going to stand up," said Elda Martinez, one of the organizers of the rally.
Organizers of the rally say they're planning on presenting some of the written statements to officials at City Hall to make an official complaint.







