Andrew Blomberg, ex-Houston police officer, acquitted of beating teen suspect

(CBS/AP) HOUSTON - Andrew Blomberg, a former Houston police officer, was acquitted Wednesday in the alleged beating of a black 15-year-old burglary suspect during a videotaped arrest.

The acquittal by an all-white jury upset community leaders who criticized the verdict as unjust and racist.

Blomberg, 29, was the first of four fired police officers to stand trial for their roles in the alleged beating of Chad Holley during a daylight arrest on March 2010. The incident involving the youth, now 18, prompted fierce public criticism of the police department by community activists who called it another example of police brutality against minorities.

Blomberg could have faced up to a year in jail if convicted of official oppression, a misdemeanor that alleged Blomberg as a public servant intentionally mistreated Holley by kicking him.

During his trial, Blomberg, who is white, testified that he didn't mistreat Holley and denied kicking or stomping on the teen's head or neck. He said he only used his foot to move Holley's arm after he refused to comply with an order to put his hands behind his back.

Community activists who were gathered in the hallway outside the courtroom yelled "Racism!" and "Injustice!" after hearing the outcome.

"It is pathetic. It is unacceptable," the Rev. James Dixon of the Community of Faith Church said of the jury's decision. "This kind of expression says to me, to my children and to every black child in the city, `Your life is not worth manure.'"

Quanell X, the community activist who had released the video of the alleged beating to the media, called the verdict "wrong" and criticized the lack of blacks or other minorities on the six-person jury.

"They knew what they were doing with an all-white jury," he said.

Blomberg denied that his actions during the arrest were racially motivated. To those who insist Holley was treated a certain way because of his race, Blomberg said, "They weren't out there that day."

His attorney, Dick DeGuerin, also said "it is not and was not a racial thing."

"It's been made into that by others for their own reasons," he said.

Asked why there weren't any blacks or minorities on the jury, DeGuerin said most of the African-Americans in the jury pool had already made up their minds that Blomberg was guilty.

Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos said while she respectfully disagreed with the jury's decision, she also accepted it.

The other officers also are charged with official oppression. Two of them face another misdemeanor as well: violating the civil rights of a prisoner. Their trial dates have not been set.

In the video footage from a security camera, which jurors were shown in court, Holley is seen falling to the ground after trying to hurdle a police squad car. He's then surrounded by at least five officers, some who appear to kick and hit his head, abdomen and legs.