DALLAS VOICE PUBLISHES EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF RAINBOW LOUNGE RAID--NEED NEWS ON CHAD GIBSON'S CURRENT STATE.

My previous post is here.

UPDATE: CHECK OUT THIS WHACK SHIT!

Here is a little taste of some of the eyewitness accounts in the Dallas Voice trickling out from the Rainbow Lounge bust in Fort Worth Texas from two nights ago. The General Manager's statement is the most striking to me:

Randy Norman is general manager for the Rainbow Lounge. He said he saw a man on the dance floor, dancing, who was approached by police officers.

“They threw him down, put the zip ties on him and took him out,” Norman said. “He told them he was not drunk, and asked that they do breathalyzer on him. But they refused.”

In 2009 its unfathomable that this is even happening. This is obvious police harassment and obvious brutality and terrorism. A new gay bar opened in town, and these little-prick/big-britches douche-bags wanted to assert their dominance. I can't tell you how angry I am after reading the eyewitness accounts.

Chad Gibson remains hospitalized. Last report had him listed as in Intensive Care, though I've been having trouble verifying that. If anyone knows which hospital he is at, I would really appreciate an email. I'm waiting to hear back from the Dallas Voice as well.

At the time that this was published, my calls to the Fort Worth police department Media Relations number had not been returned. Some questions that I think we ALL want to see answered: why bring a "paddy wagon" to a code inspection? Who were the "state police?"

POST YOUR WELL-WISHES FOR CHAD GIBSON HERE IN MY COMMENT SECTION, I WILL SEND THEM TO HIM ONCE I GET CONTACT INFORMATION.

TEXT OF THE UPDATE: THE COMPLETE TEXT OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS RELEASE ON FT WORTH Ch 11 WEBSITE, LINKED ABOVE:

Council Members Want Investigation Of Gay Bar Raid

ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) ―

Two City Council members said Monday that the public deserves answers about a weekend police raid at a gay nightclub where a man suffered a serious head injury.

"I've asked for as thorough a report as possible ... to reassure folks that the police are not singling out any group," Councilman Joel Burns said Monday.

Mayor Pro Tem Kathleen Hicks said she was "very concerned" after hearing from patrons and others in the community about what happened early Sunday at the Rainbow Lounge.

Chad Gibson, 23, remains hospitalized with bleeding on the brain, his sister Kristy Morgan told Dallas-Fort Worth television station WFAA. Gibson is not violent, and "for anyone to come back and say he did something to provoke this is ludicrous," Morgan told Dallas-Fort Worth television station KDFW.

Fort Worth police went to the Rainbow Lounge with Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agents early Sunday as part of routine alcoholic beverage code inspections, said police Sgt. Chad Mahaffey. They first went to two other bars and arrested 10 people, he said.

Then officers went to the Rainbow Lounge and encountered two drunk people who made "sexually explicit movements" toward officers and another who grabbed a TABC agent's groin, according to the police report.

No one was arrested for assault but about half a dozen people were arrested on charges of public intoxication, according to police records.

Police Chief Jeff Halstead said Gibson had grabbed at the agent's groin and was so drunk he was vomiting and fell and hit his head. Gibson was one of those arrested but was taken to the hospital instead of jail.

Halstead said he did not know more details about how Gibson was injured but that the department had started an internal investigation into the raid.

The TABC is waiting on a report from the Fort Worth office about the weekend incident, but "given the concerns that have been raised, it would not be unusual" for an internal probe to be launched, said agency spokeswoman Carolyn Beck.

George Armstrong, 41, said he had been at the Rainbow Lounge about 30 minutes and had ordered one drink when officers stormed inside. He said as on officer passed him, he smiled and flashed the peace sign, but then he was suddenly grabbed and tackled to the floor with his arm twisted behind his back.

"He was yelling at me to stop resisting arrest, but I wasn't doing anything. It was horrible. I really thought he had broken my shoulder," Armstrong told The Associated Press on Monday. "I've never been so embarrassed and humiliated. I didn't do anything to him."

Armstrong was arrested, but he said no officers advised him of his Miranda rights or administered any tests to determine his blood-alcohol level.

He said he noticed that other people who were arrested were injured or said they had been tackled by police.

When Armstrong was released from jail the next day, he went to the hospital, where his arm was put in a sling after X-rays determined his shoulder and back were severely bruised and strained, he said.

Armstrong said he never saw anyone inside the Rainbow Lounge make lewd gestures at or grab the officers. He said the raid happened very quickly at the club that had just reopened.

"To me it seemed like they were trying to make a point," Armstrong said.

The Human Rights Campaign on Monday also called for an investigation into the incident. It is the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization.

Burns said he also was disappointed that the raids took place on the 40th anniversary of New York City police raids on the Stonewall Inn, but he said police didn't realize it was the anniversary. The 1969 raid touched off demonstrations that helped lead to the gay rights movement in the U.S.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)