Latest news with #Conroe
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Yahoo
Conroe shooting: Suspect in critical condition following officer-involved shooting
The Brief A suspect is in critical condition following an officer-involved shooting in Conroe. Officials said the shooting occurred in the parking lot of a local church. No officers have been injured CONROE, Texas - Authorities are on the scene following an officer-involved shooting that occurred in Conroe on Monday evening. What we know Officials said just before 8 p.m. Monday, Montgomery County Hospital District responded to an officer-involved shooting on South 7th Street near True Gospel Holiness Church parking area. Authorities said the suspect was taken to HCA Conroe in critical condition. We're told no officers have been injured. What we don't know Officials have not said what led up to the shooting. This is a breaking news story. We'll keep you up-to-date with the very latest. The Source Information from Conroe Police Department.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Yahoo
Conroe officer-involved shooting: Suspect shot by authorities following domestic disturbance call, standoff
The Brief An investigation is underway after an officer-involved shooting on Thursday night in Conroe. The shooting occurred in the 1400 block of North San Jacinto Street. The armed suspect was struck by officers fearing for their safety. CONROE, Texas - A suspect is in the hospital after being shot by authorities following a domestic disturbance call in Conroe on Thursday, officials said. What we know According to a release, authorities were called out to the 1400 block of North San Jaincto Street just before 2:15 p.m. Officials said reports indicated a suspect had seriously assaulted family members and was barricaded inside with weapons. When officers arrived, they stated the scene was secured and victims were safely evacuated. The suspect then refused commands to surrender, and a standoff ensued. After what police called a "prolonged standoff and efforts to negotiate a peaceful surrender," SWAT deployed CS gas. Officials said the suspect resisted all efforts by officers and escalated his behavior. As SWAT entered the home, officials said, the armed suspect confronted them, and officers fearing for their safety, fired a duty weapon, striking the suspect once. Police said life-saving measures were immediately initiated, and the suspect was taken to the hospital and is in critical, but stable condition. Officials stated the previously injured family members received medical care and are now safe. The shooting remains under investigation by Conroe Police Criminal Investigations and the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office. What we don't know Authorities did not release any names of those involved in the incident. The Source Information from the Conroe Police Department.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘Texas Time' is here: Lone Star State moves to observe daylight saving time year-round
Texas lawmakers have disagreed for years over whether and how to abolish the unpopular semiannual clock change in the state, but a bill that is on its way to the governor will finally bring an end to that debate — if Congress also acts. House Bill 1393 by Conroe Republican Rep. Will Metcalf would establish 'Texas Time,' or permanent daylight saving time in the state, if federal lawmakers later allow states to do so. 'Right now, the federal government does not allow the states to make this change, so this is effectively a trigger bill,' said Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, who sponsored the bill in the upper chamber. Under the federal Uniform Time Act of 1966, states may not currently adopt permanent daylight saving time, but they can opt out of time changes by sticking with standard time year-round. That's how states like Arizona and Hawaii can keep from changing their clocks twice a year. Texas joins 18 other states that have passed similar permanent daylight saving time measures, and there's interest at the federal level in allowing the change. But lawmakers have remained divided up to this point on whether to keep changing the clocks or adopt permanent standard or daylight time. At least 13 bills were filed on the topic this session. Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, filed a proposal to make standard time the standard. Zaffirini and Bettencourt also each called for a statewide referendum to allow Texans to choose their preferred time system. Neither of those proposals gained any traction in the Legislature. Critics of permanent daylight saving time have health and safety concerns for their opposition to the idea, often touting permanent standard time as the better option. 'Everybody hates the time change,' said Sen. Nathan Johnson, a Dallas Democrat. 'But this has been studied medically, and there is a ton of health risks' to permanent daylight saving time. 'Daylight saving time itself disrupts the body's natural circadian rhythms and affects sleep,' he said, arguing that traffic accidents could also increase as Texans commute to work and school in the pre-dawn hours. The Senate passed HB 1393 with a 27-4 vote Thursday. The House overwhelmingly approved the measure in April, and the proposal was sent to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk for a signature Monday. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Legislature moves to observe daylight saving time year-round
The Independent
23-05-2025
- The Independent
Private security at ICE jail in Texas accused of choking a handcuffed detainee
A private security officer stands accused of putting his hands around a handcuffed detainee's neck and slamming him against walls at an immigrant detention center in Conroe, Texas. The officer, Charles Siringi, was criminally charged last week. The detainee was taken to the medical unit at the Montgomery Processing Center. The 66-year-old Siringi was charged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas with deprivation of rights while acting under the government's authority, resulting in bodily injury, The Washington Post noted. On Tuesday, Siringi posted $10,000 bail. The company that employed Siringi, the GEO Group, operates the detention center. The firm told The Post that Siringi no longer worked for the group. Following an internal review, the company referred the incident to Immigration and Customs Enforcement 's Office of Professional Responsibility. The Independent has contacted ICE for comment. 'We are committed to respecting the human rights and dignity of all individuals in our care, and we have a zero-tolerance policy with respect to staff misconduct,' the GEO Group told The Post. The detainee claimed that Siringi handcuffed him outside his housing unit and took him into a small room alongside other officers, according to the criminal complaint. In the room, Siringi is alleged to have told the officers, 'You better get him before I do.' The complaint added that Siringi subsequently grabbed the detainee by the neck and slammed his face into a wall. As the detainee turned around, Siringi is alleged to have put enough force on his throat that he 'tucked his chin down to his chest because he was gasping for air.' The detainee said Siringi 'did not remove his hands from his throat' and 'used the choke hold to move him across the room and slam him into the wall near the doorway,' court documents state. One of the two officers in the room, Elbert Griffin, backed up the detainee's version of events and took him to the medical unit for treatment. 'Griffin stated he did not believe it was an appropriate use of force, nor did he believe [the detainee] had been resisting in any manner,' the complaint notes. The Post noted that experts said the incident was a rare moment when an officer at a detention facility was being held criminally accountable for alleged abuse. It's more common for detainees to file civil lawsuits. American Civil Liberties Union 's National Prison Project senior staff attorney Eunice Hyunhye Cho told the paper that detainees don't have much power to reveal abuses. 'The power dynamic is so significant that people are either afraid to come forth [or] they are not believed when they raise complaints about abusive treatment,' she told The Post. 'And facilities have all sorts of incentives to keep those types of incidents under wraps.' A spokesperson for the nonprofit Freedom for Immigrants, Jeff Migliozzi, told the outlet that the allegations of abuse against Siringi were 'unfortunately characteristic' of similar altercations. 'A lot of people don't realize how common that actually is,' he said. 'But again, in the vast majority of those cases, nothing results, in terms of an oversight process or some sort of lawsuit or investigation.'
Washington Post
23-05-2025
- Washington Post
Immigrant-detention officer charged with choking handcuffed migrant
A private security officer at an immigrant detention center in Texas was criminally charged last week with choking a handcuffed detainee, who was later transported to the facility's medical unit. Charles Siringi is accused of putting his hands around the detainee's neck and throat and slamming him against walls March 31 in Conroe, Texas, according to a criminal complaint. Siringi, 66, was charged in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas with deprivation of rights while acting under the government's authority, resulting in bodily injury. He posted a $10,000 bail Tuesday. Siringi's attorney did not respond to requests for comment on the incident, which took place at Montgomery Processing Center. His company, GEO Group, which runs the detention center, said it no longer employed Siringi as of April 29 and that it referred the matter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Office of Professional Responsibility after an internal review. 'We are committed to respecting the human rights and dignity of all individuals in our care, and we have a zero-tolerance policy with respect to staff misconduct,' the company said in a statement. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The charges represent a rare instance of officers at detention facilities being held criminally accountable for allegedly abusive behavior, immigration experts told The Washington Post. More often, they said, detainees file civil lawsuits — often with help from advocacy organizations — to allege wrongdoing. Eunice Hyunhye Cho, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, said immigrants who are detained have little power to expose abuse. 'The power dynamic is so significant that people are either afraid to come forth [or] they are not believed when they raise complaints about abusive treatment,' she said. 'And facilities have all sorts of incentives to keep those types of incidents under wraps.' In Siringi's case, the detainee alleged that the officer handcuffed him outside his housing unit and brought him into a small room with other officers, the criminal complaint says. Inside, Siringi allegedly told the officers, 'You better get him before I do,' referring to the detainee. Siringi then grabbed the detainee by the neck and slammed him face-first into the wall, the complaint says. When the detainee turned around, Siringi allegedly applied enough force to his throat that he 'tucked his chin down to his chest because he was gasping for air.' The detainee later said that Siringi 'did not remove his hands from his throat' and instead 'used the choke hold to move him across the room and slam him into the wall near the doorway,' according to court documents. Elbert Griffin, one of two officers who was in the room, corroborated the detainee's account and took him to the medical unit for treatment. 'Griffin stated he did not believe it was an appropriate use of force,' the complaint says, 'nor did he believe [the detainee] had been resisting in any manner.' Jeff Migliozzi, a spokesman for the nonprofit organization Freedom for Immigrants, said Siringi's alleged misuse of force was 'unfortunately characteristic' of similar incidents the group has tracked in the past. 'A lot of people don't realize how common that actually is,' Migliozzi said. 'But again, in the vast majority of those cases, nothing results, in terms of an oversight process or some sort of lawsuit or investigation.' Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.
