John Russell Webster, Cross-Appellants v. The City of Houston, Cross-Appellee

JOHN R. BROWN, Circuit Judge:

Television police dramas paint a frightening and often bloody picture of life. The suffering of innocent victims and their families nightly invades our living rooms, subject only to the viewer’s freedom to change the channel. In this case we lack that freedom, for this episode involves a true story. The names have not been changed; and in the final scene, the innocent, far from being protected, lay on a city street, dying, while Houston police officers debated whether to cover up their misdeeds by placing a “throw down” gun at the victim’s side. We find that the…