Alleged CIA Connection Complicates|Fatal Shooting By Houston Police

HOUSTON (CN) - Houston police officers violated a man's civil rights by shooting him to death after a high-speed chase, the man's widow claims in Federal Court. Susan Carnaby's husband, Roland Carnaby, allegedly claimed to be a CIA agent and showed police a CIA badge after they pulled him over for speeding.

The widow claims the officers violated Roland Carnaby's constitutional rights when they shot him in the back, failed to call for medical assistance, handcuffed him and left him facedown on the pavement to die on April 29.

Carnaby says the fatal shooting is another example of a flawed Houston Police Department policy that allows officers to shoot suspects though the officers do not objectively fear for their lives. She demands an injunction forcing the HPD to change its customs and practices on use of deadly force.

Houston Police investigators claim the officer who first detained Carnaby was unsure if his CIA badge was authentic and called for a background check, which was inconclusive, according to local media reports. Police claim Carnaby failed to follow Texas law and tell the officer he had a concealed weapons permit, and the officer was preparing to arrest Carnaby on these charges when he took off.

Carnaby tried to call contacts in the Houston Police Department and the FBI to vouch for him during the pursuit, according to media reports.

Although Carnaby had many friends in the intelligence community, headed up the Houston branch of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, had plaques honoring his years of service to the agency and possessed a book written by former CIA director George Tenet, with a personal inscription, the CIA denies any connection.

"While we do not as a rule publicly deny or confirm employment, I will tell you in this case that Mr. Carnaby was not an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency," CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano told the Houston Chronicle. "He was never a CIA officer."

Represented by Randall Kallinen, the widow seeks punitive damages.

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