Tempe Town Lake

But no the racist Tempe cops decide to punish the Black kids who exposed them as racists. The cops dig up an Arizona Republic reporter and get him to write an article calling the kids murderers even though there is not a shred of evidence giving the cops probable cause to arrest the kids for murder.

How low can you go. Well the Tempe Police have gone pretty low on this, and I am sure they will go even lower.

Source

2 men asked by police to rap are leads in unsolved murder
Feb. 12, 2007 12:00 AM

In their lawsuit against Tempe police, two Black men say they were embarrassed and hurt after being asked to rap to get out of a littering ticket in 2006, an incident that aired repeatedly on the city's cable channel.

But that may not have been nearly as stressful as their encounter with Phoenix police in July 2003, when they found themselves involved in a murder investigation.

Louis Baker and Robert Tarvin, who were asked to rap to evade a citation outside of Arizona Mills mall, were never charged in the Phoenix homicide and never called suspects. They remain listed as investigative leads, and the case remains open.

However, a Phoenix police report leaves little doubt as to what the lead detective in the case thought happened that day at the apartment complex in the South Mountain Pointe Resort. According to the report, Detective Raymond Roe told Baker that he believes Tarvin shot and killed the victim.

Neither Tarvin nor Baker could be reached for comment. The attorneys representing them in their civil suit against Tempe did not return repeated calls for comment.

Baker has filed a demand letter with the city of Tempe asking for $500,000. Tarvin filed a notice of claim for $50,000 against Tempe. Tarvin's claim asks that a portion of that money go toward training for Tempe officers. Tarvin also wants a letter of apology from the officer who asked him to rap and the officer who filmed the segment for the city-produced television show Street Beat.

The segment aired some 20 times on the city's cable channel during November. After newspaper stories about it, other media outlets picked up on it, and coverage spread nationwide. The 75-second tape was aired ad nauseum for several days.

Civil rights groups condemned the incident, and the officer, Sgt. Chuck Schoville, met with representatives of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Neither Schoville nor the show's producer was disciplined.

Schoville said that in an untaped portion of the stop, Tarvin and Baker told him they were music producers and aspiring rappers.

But the men didn't tell Schoville about the afternoon of July 7, 2003, and the violent incident that happened about two miles away from where they were standing.

A beating and a shooting

The dead man was named Jose Oquita. He was 27.

According to a Phoenix police report, his brother, Guadalupe Harper, told officers that he, Oquita and another man who went by the nickname "Stiles" went to the Pointe Apartment Community at South Mountain because Oquita wanted help collecting money on a drug deal.

Just then, a gray Honda pulled up. Stiles went up to a man who got out of the car, and the two got into a fistfight, the report says. Harper told police he then saw a Black man come out of an apartment and fire a gun. The report says that Harper did not see the shooter's face and could not identify him. Stiles fled and has never been identified.

The police report quotes another witness, who told police he was taking his trash out when he saw two Black men in the parking lot. The shorter of the two, who was wearing a light-colored shirt, fired a handgun, the witness said. The other man, he said, was possibly shirtless. The witness told police he then saw the two men get into a gray Honda, with the man who fired the handgun getting into the passenger seat. The witness said he called 911 and gave the car's description and license plate.

Tarvin and Baker were pulled over three minutes later about a half-mile south of the complex. Baker was driving and was shirtless. Tarvin was wearing a white T-shirt. According to the police report, Baker stuck his arms out of the window, as if to show he had no weapons, as officers approached.

When interviewed, according to the report, Baker said he was being beaten on the grass and was trying to get away when he heard the gunshot. He said he did not see who fired but told the officer, "he would not be surprised if it were Robert (Tarvin) who had done it."

'It was self-defense'

Tarvin told officers he was in his apartment when he heard the fight outside. He heard a gunshot and ran out of the apartment.

Roe, the homicide detective, told Tarvin that a witness had seen a man fitting his description coming from his apartment and firing a gun. The report says that Tarvin became "very emotional" and asked to use the telephone. The detective wrote that it sounded as if Tarvin called his mother. "He told her that he was involved in something with Louis and it was 'self-defense, ' " the report says.

Officers found a .40-caliber shell outside of the apartment, along with another unused round. They also found an empty .40-caliber magazine underneath the passenger seat in the Honda. Police say the victim was felled by a .40-caliber bullet.

According to the report, Tarvin was not interviewed again. However, the detective spoke with Baker, who is Tarvin's cousin, in August 2003 when he came to pick up his impounded car.

After asking for the story again, Roe wrote that he "told (Louis) that he was leaving out much of what actually happened and I was tired of his lies."

"I pointed out that evidence found in his apartment showed that he was selling marijuana there, and a .40 (Smith and Wesson) magazine was found in his car. . . . I said that I believed that he was beat up over a bad drug deal, and his cousin shot the victim," the report says.

'Looking more like a suspect'

According to the report, Roe told Baker "that I did not believe what he (Baker) was telling me . . . (and) he was looking more like a suspect and less like a witness."

The report does not indicate that the gun was ever found, a key element in murder cases that hinge on ballistics evidence.

Roe declined a request for an interview. Phoenix police would not comment on why it never recommended charges in the case. The department released the incident report under a public records request filed by The Republic.

Tempe police also refused to comment on the Phoenix case, citing the possible lawsuit.

Baker, according to a letter filed with the city by his attorney, Howard Schwartz, has "been subject to ridicule" and has become emotionally distressed, reclusive and embarrassed The demand letter filed by Tarvin's attorney, Christopher Berry, says that Tarvin has suffered damage "to his standing in the community and among his peers."

Tempe police could argue, however, that the more troubling stop may not have been when Baker and Tarvin were pulled over in that city for littering, but when they were pulled over by Phoenix police investigating a homicide.

Reach the reporter at (602) 444-8473.