Buzbee: Galveston must tend to 'all of the things destroyed unnecessarily' in botched police raid

Legal counsel representing a Galveston family whose residence was the focal point of a botched police raid last month have demanded city officials publicly apologize and take proper action, Houston-based media outlets reported. 

Tony Buzbee of The Buzbee Law Firm in Houston is calling for the home at Avenue O at 53rd Street in the middle part of Galveston – which he asserted on social media was “destroyed” – to be fixed with no cost to the family, Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported. 

"We want the windows replaced, their doors fixed. We want their fence fixed, the wiring fixed and their water fixed,” Buzbee said at a press conference with the family in attendance on Wednesday, per KTRK. “All of the things you destroyed unnecessarily fixed.”

Galveston Police Department (GPD) officers allegedly barged into the residence during the early morning hours of Sunday, Jan. 22 while looking for an adolescent homicide suspect, but the raid didn’t produce the teen, who was apprehended a day later, Houston Daily reported. 

The murder charge pinned on the 17-year-old, identified as Cameron Vargas, was dropped following a consultation between police and the Galveston County District Attorney’s (DA) Office determined he was falsely implicated in the death of 25-year-old Malik Dunn. 

Galveston Chief of Police Doug Balli is in the midst of 10-day administrative leave placed on him by Galveston City Manager Brian Maxwell as an internal investigation tries to answer questions arising from the forced entry.

Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported that Buzbee and homeowner Erika Rios have given the city until Friday to meet the demands. 

Rios claims she and her children were awakened by “wooden pellets flying through our doors” and GPD’s orders to exit the house with their hands up.

"What they did to me and my family was wrong,” the mother said, KHOU reported. “What they did to our family traumatized my family and my son. My house isn’t a mansion … They destroyed it.”

Vargas’ mother, Terry Borrell, accompanied her son and the Rios family to the press conference, KTRK reported. 

Borrell was taken aback as to why authorities branded the young man, who is friends with Rios’ children, a suspect, insisting he “does not run the streets” but is a homebody. 

“He certainly does not participate in criminal activity or hang out with people who do,” she said, the station reported. “My son is also due a public apology.”