Texas Rangers, the best of the best of… never mind
As if law enforcement in Texas didn’t take a gigantic hickey for the Uvalde shooting and their, shall we say, lackadaisical? response – here we have the tale of one of Texas’ finest, a Texas Ranger. And no, I am not referring to the ill-starred Dallas junior league baseball team.
The Texas Department of Public Safety sent a letter to Christopher Ryan Kindell on January 5, saying they intended to terminate him for not “conforming to department standards” during the response to the shooting, where 19 children and two teachers were killed.
According to the Post, Kindell arrived at the school 30 minutes after the shooting began, and was one of the most senior officers on the scene when he arrived.
As you can expect, whether a shooter is barricaded inside a somewhat secure place or is in a place with shootable hostages/targets demands different tactics. The former you can almost starve out, the latter demands action as soon as humanly possible.
In the dismissal letter, DPS officials said Kindell “took no steps to influence the law enforcement response toward an active shooter posture” and that “constitutes a failure to perform your duty completely.”
The Post went into further detail about how Kindell failed to mount an active shooter offensive. About 10 minutes after arriving on the scene, bodycam footage shows Kindell walking around, “within earshot” as a dispatcher announces that a child has called 911 from inside one of the two adjoining classrooms where the shooter had barricaded himself, the Post reported.
Kindell also failed to immediately act when the shooter unleashed his final round of gunfire at 12:21 p.m. Law enforcement didn’t storm the classroom where the shooter was present until 12:50 p.m., according to the Post.
Kindell is described as a “senior officer” with the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas’ equivalent to a Highway Patrol (if you are driving in Texas and see a black SUV with a white hood – that’s one of ’em.) The Rangers are an elite group subordinate to DPS. Per DPS policy, a fired officer has the ability to appeal his firing to the head of DPS.
A DPS official told The Post that the dismissal letter was a “preliminary decision” and won’t be finalized until Kindell has the opportunity to meet with DPS Director Steven McCraw.
Multiple sources told the local news station KXAN last week that Kindell requested a meeting with McCraw over four months ago, but that McCraw has yet to schedule a date.
Insider was unable to reach Kindell for comment on Wednesday, but a source close to the ranger said that the director has twice cancelled on him.
And it just gets better – Kindell is on PAID LEAVE until his firing is confirmed – he made $90,000 in 2022. So the good citizens of Texas are paying $90,000 annually for this clown to walk around on paid leave and the DPS Chief can’t be bothered to meet with him. How long out of a busy schedule does it take to say “Ya screwed the pooch and we both know it. Hit the bricks!” Maybe Texas needs to suspend BOTH of them without pay until this is settled.
Category: "Teh Stoopid", Police, YGBSM!!
Sounds like a union job.
Not in Texas. We’re still proudly anti-union.
I don’t know what the hail is going on with DPS, but this is not the behavior to which I as a life-long Texan am accustomed.
Perhaps it’s the unofficial union of senior LEOs? If the super doesn’t meet with the high ranking fuckup, he doesn’t have to make his firing official.
One sad fact I know from years of personal experience and the anecdotes from those in the LEO field is that the upper ranks of the organization most often have to suckup to some special interests.
Someone is covering someone’s adz while they try to determine who or what will be the sacrificial offering to appease the public.
YMMV
Memories of LeRoy Foley and Rick Jowers.
Last word was the Rangers were looking into Foley.
Then the possibility that Foley split for Oklahomy.
I was actually looking forward to the outcome
of Texas Rangers investigating 2 Phony Army Airborne Rangers.
I forgot about those two ball-working losers.
And I doubt they are in Oklahoma.
More likely in Merritt Island, Florida working for All-Points Logistics as The False Commander “Phony” Phil Monkress (CEO of All-Points Logistics) PSD.
Fire him. Get on with it.
One school shooting, one ranger? The problem is they sent the wrong one.
Chuck would have solved the problem.
Oooohhhhh …. Bill McDonald reference!
“…William J. McDonald was commissioned a Ranger captain in 1890. He’s the Ranger generally credited with first uttering a line that morphed into the slogan “One Ranger, one riot,” …”
“They only sent one Ranger?”
“Well, you only got one riot don’t ya?”
Most reports I’ve read say it took them 77 minutes, when it should have taken no more than 5.
Adding insult to this, the DPS gave Officer Guerrero a valor award for killing the shooter, in spite of it taking him over an hour to do so.
Body cam footage worn by every officer on the scene probably holds enough proof to substantiate the cowardice displayed that day.
According to a separate report, it appears Kindell might escape scrutiny over this: Uvalde investigation: ‘No fault’ found in suspended Texas Ranger’s response (kxan.com)
“No Fault”?
Hell, deputize and send me.
I’m old, overweight, and out of shape.
But I’d have given that Uvalde murderer a run for his money.
I’m with ya, Tox. Pretty sure we could organize a pretty capable crew out of this bunch of crusty old bastards we call friends.
“Here am I. Send me!” –Isaiah 6:8
I’d happily go into the fray with y’all!!
My greater fear is to be judged for what I’ve failed to do, hitherto myne Warrior Spirit is nearly clean and I intend to keep it that way.
Don’t leave me out of the party.
I wouldn’t even need one of them fancy modern sporting rifles, my old Model 94 thuddy-thuddy holds enough round to do the job.
He “just followed instructions” well.
Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker weeps.
Texas should’ve borrowed this guy from Arizona.
https://youtu.be/8l-NYTz_tes
I heard Walker was on paid administrative leave pending the results of his last roundhouse kick to the face…
While we can’t paint the entire Texas DPS and Ranger agencies with cowardice based on the (in)actions of one officer, this shows exactly how much we can rely on law enforcement to protect our children and ourselves. The same people who tell us that we need to give up our guns and rely on police for protection shout “Defund the Police” in the streets. They don’t care about the cops, and they certainly don’t care about us.
The police aren’t the sheepdogs that some would want us to believe they are. Many are patriotic gun owners who risk their lives daily and wouldn’t hesitate to intervene, but many others go to work, collect their pay, and don’t want any difficulty. This shows that no matter how well-reputed and publicized a law enforcement agency is, there are some who would hesitate to do their duty, even when lives are being lost.
We, gun-owning and legally carrying Americans, are the ones who are the sheepdogs. I use that term frivolously, as I’ve never cared for such cliches, but hopefully everyone gets the point. Police can’t be everywhere at once, and while many take the job seriously, there are some who just seem to be there. “I got a badge and a gun, I hold the power”, despite having eaten three donuts too many and only shooting during annual qualification. Or, like Crimson Elizondo, who subsequently got a job with Uvalde Schools despite leaving her body armor and carbine in her vehicle when responding to the Uvalde shooting. She got a little heat for being heard saying that she’d have been in the school if her son was present. Never mind the other children, it’s yours that matters…
Be armed, be prepared, know the law, and as we did in the military, follow lawful orders. If someone’s killing people in plain sight and a cop says “stand down” but isn’t acting themself, I consider it to be unlawful.