San Antonio Police Department Is Still Reeling as Officer’s Trial Opens

Stephen Smith and Farrell Tucker were the best of friends.

They joined the San Antonio police academy at the same time in 1979 and worked together as partners. Tucker was best man at Smith’s wedding.

This month, Tucker is being tried for murder in the slaying of Smith, described as a vigilante who brutalized prisoners and who may have planned to kill three law enforcement officials.

Those three officials ordered Tucker to meet with Smith last Aug. 18. The meeting ended in Smith’s death. Tucker claims that he shot his friend in self-defense.

Federal Probe

The case cost two police chiefs their jobs and prompted a federal investigation and an $8-million lawsuit over alleged civil rights violations.

Police morale suffered under national publicity, but the police department is being revamped under the direction of William O. Gibson, who became chief in April.

Gibson, 45, a 22-year veteran of the force, believes the department will survive.

“I think the trial probably will bring back some unpleasant events, but I don’t think it’s going to damage the police department,” Gibson said.

Unlike his predecessors, Gibson has the support of both City Hall and the San Antonio Police Officers Assn., the union blamed by one lawyer as the root of the police department’s problem.

‘Department Gone Haywire’

“This is a story of a police department gone haywire with no control,” said civil rights attorney Ruben Sandoval. “You have a bunch of policemen led by neo-Nazis totally dominating a bunch of weak-kneed politicians.”

Sandoval has sued the city, Bexar County, Smith’s estate, Tucker and 13 other current and former police officials on behalf of 11 families. The lawsuit claims that Smith was responsible for bombings, shootings and the deaths of three people and that Tucker either took part in it or knew about it.

Sandoval claims that the alleged attacks were vigilante acts against people with whom Smith or Smith’s wife, Lea, had had confrontations.

Sandoval, who supports Gibson’s efforts, said he hoped that the lawsuit would help weed out bad cops.

Leadership a Problem

Sgt. Harold Flammia, president of the union, denies widespread police corruption.

“The problems were caused by four or five officers,” Flammia said. “We got a lot of bad press, but morale is back up. Our problem for the last few years has been lack of leadership.”

City officials who criticized the police department after the shooting, including Mayor Henry Cisneros, have rallied residents behind the police department.

Cisneros was successful in getting a $23.6-million police-firefighters bond package passed to pay for a new police academy, new equipment and renovations to existing buildings. And the union, which has been at odds with City Manager Lou Fox over its employee contracts, ratified a new pact in March.

Case Not Devious

Terry McDonald, appointed to defend Tucker after the suspended officer was declared indigent, said the case is simple.

“It’s either self-defense or it’s murder,” McDonald said. “I don’t think this case is as devious as everyone thinks it is.”

The police department’s fall began the morning of Aug. 18 when Tucker met with then-Assistant Police Chief Frank Hoyack.

Tucker had visited Lea Smith the previous night. Tucker said she told him her husband was planning to kill Hoyack, then-Deputy Police Chief Robert Heuck and then-Bexar County Dist. Atty. Sam Millsap.

Smith, on indefinite suspension since March, 1986, and awaiting trial on charges that he violated a prisoner’s civil rights, blamed the three for damaging his career, Tucker said.

Met With Former Partner

Smith was also suspected of vandalizing Hoyack’s and Heuck’s homes.

The three officials told Tucker to keep a meeting with Smith later that day. And the district attorney got Tucker a voice-activated tape recorder for the rendezvous.

That evening, Tucker, 35, armed with the tape recorder and two revolvers, met his former partner.

Smith, 31, was driving a standard-transmission compact car, a yellow Chevette, and Tucker was sitting on the passenger side.

Tucker says Smith grabbed one of the guns while he was driving and threatened to kill him. Tucker said he pulled out the other revolver and shot his former partner in self-defense. Smith was shot five times.

Tape Recorder No Help

The medical examiner said Smith was looking straight ahead when he was shot, a finding inconsistent with Tucker’s account that Smith threatened him.

Officials said the tape recorder produced nothing audible.

Sandoval, the attorney who filed the $8-million lawsuit, has videotaped a re-enactment of how he believes the Smith-Tucker shooting occurred.

He said officials wanted Smith and Tucker to meet and should have foreseen the disastrous outcome.

“Smith was going bananas. He was paranoid. He was schizo. Tucker was afraid Smith would ruin it for him,” Sandoval said.

Two Resignations

Not long after the shooting, Police Chief Charles Rodriguez resigned at the request of the city manager.

Hoyack was appointed interim police chief. But once Tucker was indicted, Hoyack resigned because of his connection to the affair.

Gibson, who has reassigned Hoyack and Heuck, is pushing to increase his staff of 1,300. He said he will continue to change the department.

“I can sense a tremendous change in the attitudes of the officers. The community also is beginning to sense a change,” Gibson said. “I’m very optimistic about the San Antonio Police Department and the good that’s going to happen in the years to come.”