Richard Spencer

August 09, 2009

Nina directed me to this uniquely American story about a first-generation citizen in Houston. (Video is available here, if you dare.)

“Obviously the system broke down,” former Harris County Detention Major Mark Kellar said.

Houston police said George Vera, 25, was arrested Aug. 2 and taken to the city jail. He spent a day there before being transferred to the Harris County Jail. After being there for 14 hours, going through intake procedures, he was taken to the showers, the final step before going to his cell. There, Vera told police he had a 9mm handgun on him, along with 2 clips.

“If a person has a weapon, narcotics, anything of danger, it should have been found before he winds up in the county jail,” said Kellar.

Kellar said Vera should have been searched at least three times before getting to the jail.

Vera weighs nearly 600 pounds and the gun was allegedly hidden between fat layers.

Houston Police Officers Union President Gary Blankinship said cadets are trained how to search morbidly obese people.

“We teach officers to lift up and look under,” Blankinship said. “The officer may not have arrested anyone this big before.”

The question nobody?s asking is, Was it intentional? That is, Was this a case of Se?or Vera actually hiding a firearm and ammunition in his corpulence, with the idea of staging a dramatic jailbreak for himself and his amigos once inside the facility (a plan that began to weigh heavy on Vera, causing him to turn over the gun and accept his fate)? Or was the 9 Millimeter stashed within Vera?s person months before for another purpose altogether?perhaps unbeknownst to Vera, done by someone else while he was calmly napping? Inquiring minds want to know.