CITY BETRAYED OFFICERS IN OREGON CASE, FIRED COP SAYS

The lone officer charged in connection with the shooting death of Pedro
Oregon Navarro says Houston city and police officials betrayed him and his
fellow officers to avoid taking political heat.

In his first interview since being acquitted last week of misdemeanor
criminal trespass charges in the July 12 shooting, James Willis told the
Chronicle that he and the other five officers were fired by Police Chief
C.O. Bradford to "appease" protesters critical of the department.

Willis says Houston Police Department brass didn't have all the facts and
didn't want them to come out.

"Bradford's comments were the ultimate blow. It was like someone going in
your chest and ripping your heart out," Willis said. "We're not crooks. We
weren't out there doing criminal activities ... We were out there trying to
do our jobs and catch a crook. We weren't out there raping or killing or
doing dope. Granted, it didn't turn out great, but it wasn't something we
didn't do in the past."

He also claimed that the betrayal took a dangerous turn when Hispanic gang
members threatened to kill officers in southwest Houston after Oregon's
death, specifically mentioning Willis and the other five officers.

Willis, 29, said no one from HPD contacted him or the others about the
threats, but he had learned about them from friends.

An HPD spokesman said he wasn't aware of the threats but was sure Willis
and the others would have been told if they were, in fact, threatened.
Police officials also deny that the officers were fired because of
political concerns but because they were guilty of misconduct.

Since the incident, Willis says he has been called everything from a liar
and racist to a cold-blooded killer cop. Because he faced a criminal
charge, Willis said he could not respond and until his trial people only
heard the "spin" from the attorneys for the Oregon family.

Though he still faces possible federal charges and the city is being sued
by the family, he said he wants to tell the officers' side of the story.

Willis says his bosses and city officials gave him and the other officers
in his task force nothing but praise when they were arresting gang members.
But all that ended on July 12.

Tipped by an informant that Pedro Oregon's brother, Rogelio, was dealing
crack cocaine, Willis and five other officers set up a meeting with Rogelio
and went to his apartment.

Having no warrant, the officers got the informant to knock on the door.
Rogelio opened it, saw the uniformed officers behind the man and darted off.

Thinking Rogelio was going for a gun or about to destroy evidence, Willis
has said, he followed his partner inside.

Willis restrained Rogelio and covered another man while the other officers
went to the back of the apartment. That's where he says they saw an armed
Pedro Oregon.

One officer fired, but the bullet hit his partner. The other officers
thought Pedro had shot at them, so they opened fire, hitting him with 12 of
33 shots, nine of them in the back. One officer fired 24 times.

Pedro's gun was not fired, and there were no drugs in the apartment.

After a lengthy investigation, a state grand jury indicted only Willis. The
Oregon family and their supporters were enraged.

Willis said the officers were only trying to get Rogelio Oregon's consent
to search his apartment. If he refused, Willis said, the officers would
have left.

"We were there doing our jobs," said Willis, denying that the police had
illegally created a justification to enter the home. "Rogelio knew he was
busted, and he knew what was going to happen. That's why he ran."

In Willis' trial, prosecutors argued that the officers were trying to pad
drug arrest statistics to keep federal grant money flowing into the task
force.

Willis denies it: "We weren't pressured to make good numbers. We wanted to
make the numbers. It made us look good, so we made the numbers."

Asked why the state grand jury indicted only him and for only a
misdemeanor, Willis said, "My theory is the grand jury heard what had
happened, and they were OK with what happened. But because of the publicity
the case received and because the protesters got involved so fast and
because politicians got involved so fast, they must have felt like the
facts had to come out."

The only way the grand jury could accomplish that was to indict one of the
officers and let the issue be aired at trial, he said.

Willis denied that he was arrogant during his nine hours in front of the
grand jury and said maybe the panel felt he had the least to lose.

Willis said the indictment was frustrating, but he was more upset by the
criticism leveled by Bradford and others without having heard their grand
jury testimony.

An HPD spokesman responded that Bradford had the benefit of investigations
by the homicide division and internal affairs.

Though he did not see the gunfire, Willis said, "A terrible thing happened
that night. No one wanted Pedro to die. But what choice did he leave those
officers?"

Willis said that if what the officers did was so wrong, then Rogelio Oregon
should have testified in his trial. Rogelio was called as a witness for the
state, but he took the Fifth Amendment. Oregon family attorneys have said
Rogelio didn't think the state was prosecuting in good faith.

Willis says the lawyers for the Oregon family have vilified him but are
afraid to have their client answer tough questions.

Rogelio, Willis said, is their "gold mine."

"I bet you if their daughters were buying dope from Rogelio and strung out
on crack that they'd be saying something different."