Complaint means more controversy for Houston police department

HOUSTON — Accusations are swirling among employees of the Valley’s tiniest city and, as it has in the past, the police department appears to be the epicenter.

On one side, a city employee alleges a police officer was verbally abusive with a member of the public on New Year’s Eve. On the other, Houston’s police captain said he was just doing his job and dropped a major hint about a possible criminal investigation.

With the city of Anchorage and Mat-Su Borough implementing new laws allowing a brief window in which fireworks could be used, the city of Houston was overrun New Year’s Eve with soon-to-be revelers picking up pyrotechnics in one of the few places fireworks can be sold in this part of the state. The Houston Fire Department was on standby that weekend handling the crowd.

“After the standby events of New Year’s weekend, some statements were received, but only one formal complaint has been received by the mayor’s office as of 8 a.m. Monday about an alleged verbal altercation involving a member of the public and a member of the Houston Police Department,” Houston Mayor Virgie Thompson said in a written statement.

She declined to give further details about the investigation, but said the city is taking the complaint seriously and that her staff knows she expects them to act properly when representing the city.

Houston Police Capt. Charley McAnally filled in the details from his point of view.

He said the person in question was harassing one of his officers and some of the firefighters. The officer rang McAnally on the phone, asking him to come to the fireworks stands. The officer had arrested the man’s brother for drunken driving and needed to book him into the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility and so couldn’t deal with the man’s alleged disorderly conduct.

“I pulled up there, sure enough there’s that guy. He’s loud and boisterous,” McAnally said.

He said he stood very close to the man in order that he would be able to smell alcohol on his breath if there were alcohol to be smelled. There wasn’t. McAnally said he asked the man to leave and he refused.

“I pointed at him and said a little bit louder, ‘get in your truck and leave,’” McAnally said.

And the man did. Which, McAnally said, was good, since it saved him a trip to the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility in Palmer.

“We were so busy that I really didn’t want to have to arrest this guy just for being a jerk,” McAnally said.

The city press release did not identify who made the complaint.

But McAnally had no qualms about naming his alleged accuser. He said it came from Houston firefighter Christian Hartley. Hartley, reached over the weekend, directed inquiries to the mayor.

McAnally was dismissive of the substance of the complaint.

“I guess Hartley thinks I should be passing out flowers to everyone who won’t listen to law enforcement. Maybe I could have hugged him instead,” he said.

The rumor mill in Houston is a sight to behold and the incident was quickly linked to a rumored police investigation, with those spreading the rumors saying the complaint was an attempt to oust McAnally before he could wrap the investigation up.

Asked about those rumors, McAnally said, “I will not confirm or deny an investigation into multiple theft charges.”

McAnally’s predecessor at the department, Charlie Seidl, played an integral role in the events leading up to the eventual recall petition filed against then-mayor Roger Purcell. Seidl shot dogs at the animal shelter, saying Purcell ordered him to, a charge Purcell denied. Seidl later made public a dashboard camera video purporting to show Purcell using lights and sirens as he drove to Fairbanks in a borrowed police cruiser to drop off a grant application.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.