Opinion: What about Harding Street raid? Acevedo, Turner give soundbites on police brutality but stay silent about my sister’s death

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo seem to have all the answers about police killings and injustice around the nation. Their strident, authoritative comments about failed policing and keeping the peace in other cities and states leave quite an impression.

Yet, in Houston, their continued silence about the murderous Harding Street no-knock raid by Houston police that killed my sister Rhogena Nicholas, her husband and their dog 16 months ago also speaks volumes.

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•  When will the city finally tell the truth about — or even address — the killings of my sister and her husband? When will the city release any of the forensic and ballistics information, statements by Houston Police Department personnel that may or may not support the city’s stories and evidence on the ground, the audit of narcotics units and disciplinary action, if any, taken against its managers?
•   Although the Harris County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing cases that relied on the testimony of Gerald Goines, when will the police department carry out a full review of the entire unit and its managers with full accountability? How many other families were victimized by the decades-long corruption of HPD Narcotics Unit 15?
•   How high did knowledge of the illicit activities of HPD officers Goines and Steven Bryant go in the police department?
•   Our independent investigation found evidence that an HPD shooter fired blindly through the home’s walls and into the house, including the likely fatal shot at my sister on her own couch. Who killed my sister in the barrage of bullets fired from outside her home?
•   What happened to the evidence our family’s independent investigation of the killing developed? Why does the question of “friendly fire” and the likelihood that my sister was shot blindly while seated on her couch remain unanswered?
•   Why is the Department of Justice no longer investigating HPD?