Nutty Behavior in Pecan City
March 19th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
(Update below)
Sometimes small town politics can be a whole lot fiercer than a big city political brawl. Some citizens of Seguin, home of the world’s largest pecan, are stepping up to support their Police Chief Luis Collazo. Others, not so much. The chief was placed on administrative suspension March 11 and told to turn in his sidearm, badge and keys.
According to a letter from Douglas Faseler, City Manager of Seguin, there are serious allegations against the chief including “abusive conduct toward fellow employees or members of the public, racial, religious, sexist or ethnic slurs or remarks, participation in horseplay or practical jokes…including the use of abusive, profane, or threatening language.”
Collazo’s lawyer Brian Davis said the chief had no comment for the press regarding the allegations. “We have a private hearing set for March 27th,” he said.
Both the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise and KWED radio filed an open records request for information on allegations against Collazo. Some of the documents which detail the allegations are on the KWED Radio web site (scroll all the way to the bottom of the page). The allegations provided as sworn statements from Seguin police officers use words that can only be heard on late-night cable, so we’ll just hit on some of the more PG rated stuff here.
Ahem, City Manager Faseler writes that police officers, in sworn statements, made the following allegations about Collazo:
He told a female officer, with witnesses present, that if she made a mistake, he would “cut her tits off.”
He addressed females employees as “slut” and “ho.”
He called another police officer an “Amazon lesbian.”
Besides the potty mouth, officers also alleged that he granted special treatment to citizens and other officers.
He allegedly interfered with the apprehension of someone wanted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on a federal warrant.
Collazo also allegedly allowed a fellow officer to use city vehicles and equipment to build a residence for Collazo’s mother-in-law.
He dismissed a parking ticket for a Ms. Lola Miller.
The allegations don’t look pretty, yet according to a story today in the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise, at least 20 citizens attended a city council meeting Tuesday to defend their police chief. Some of the citizens accused the police department of conspiracy and a plot to crucify Collazo, who has been police chief for almost five years.
During his term in office, Collazo beefed up the department’s Blue Santa program and created the Cops-N-Kids Day Picnic, where local children receive new bicycles. He also built up the police department’s Citizens’ Police Academy, according to the KWED Radio article.
Update
The Statesman is reporting that Collazo has resigned. City of Seguin officials apparently offered him a deal to skedaddle.
