Secret Agent In His Own Mind ?

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Secret Agent In His Own Mind ?

Postby Hitoru » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:21 pm

HPD high-speed chase ends in death, deeper mystery
Killed man known to his friends as a federal intelligence officer

By MIKE TOLSON, LINDSAY WISE and MIKE GLENN
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle


Mystery continues to envelop a man shot and killed by Houston police Tuesday morning after a high-speed chase that ended near the Galleria.

The victim was identified by friends as Roland Vincent Carnaby, 52, of Houston. But who he really was — or more precisely, what he was — is something police are still trying to piece together.

Carnaby held himself out as a federal intelligence agent but was sometimes cagey about his precise job and employer. At times he mentioned the Central Intelligence Agency or the Department of Homeland Security. He was the president of the local chapter of the Association for Intelligence Officers, a legitimate national organization whose board contains luminaries such as former President George H.W. Bush. Friends said they have seen him in the company socially of local law enforcement officials and high-level CIA bureaucrats.

The CIA told KHOU that Carnaby was not an employee of the intelligence agency.

Car dealer Alan Helfman met Carnaby more than a decade ago when "a mutual friend high in law enforcement" brought him by the dealership. "He bought eight or nine cars from me over the years," Helfman said.

Carnaby told Helfman he was a federal officer who worked in intelligence. The two men struck up a close friendship.

"He was always teasing me about being a reserve constable," said Helfman, who volunteers for Harris County Precinct 7.

Friends insist Carnaby was very much who he said he was, even if he was less than specific about his duties. One recalled a recent party in Washington that they both attended for retired intelligence agents.

'A blank page'
"Most of what he does is so classified that regular homicide (detectives) will come up with a blank page and then a question about why you are asking," said Fred Platt, the vice president of the local chapter of intelligence agents. "He's here because of homeland security. The port and the airport. He knows everybody on the command staff of every agency."

Local law enforcement officials, however, say they don't know him, including Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt and Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas. The local FBI office also claims to have no knowledge of him.

Hurtt said he'd attended a function held by the Association last year and may have met Carnaby there. He said he did not remember him well, though the two were photographed together.

"I don't know the gentleman," he said.

Carnaby traveled frequently for work, Helfman said, but whenever he was in Houston, he visited the dealership on a daily basis. Helfman said Carnaby spoke seven languages and always carried an arsenal of weapons, including several guns and a knife.

"He was always showing me his knife tricks," he said. "He was real good at karate, too."

Carnaby was tight-lipped about his work and his private life, and Helfman said he didn't question him.

"His entire life has always been clandestine. His girlfriends didn't even know what he was doing," Helfman said.

Even mundane details of Carnaby's life were tinged with mystery. His address listed with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles is a private mailbox at a UPS Store near downtown. The address at which he registered his Jeep Commander was a different UPS Store in Pearland.

Whatever his real story, Carnaby's life came to an end about 11 a.m. after police forced his vehicle to a stop. He didn't acknowledge the officers who encircled him with guns drawn. And he "refused to put his hands where the officers could see him," said Houston Police Sgt. John Chomiak.

"The driver refused to comply, talk or roll down the window," Chomiak said.

He opened the driver's side door only after one of the officers smashed the passenger-side window, police said.

"He stepped out of his vehicle, turned around and reached under the seat," Chomiak said.

When he did, two officers each fired one time, authorities said. The officers were identified by police officials as HPD Sgt. A.J. Washington and Officer C.A. Foster. Carnaby was later pronounced dead at Ben Taub Hospital.

The incident lasted most of an hour. It began with a routine traffic stop when Carnaby was pulled over for speeding along Texas 288 near Orem. Carnaby raced away after the officers learned he had a license to carry a concealed weapon, police said.

120-mph chase
With the officers in close pursuit, the Jeep raced north along the South Freeway, with speeds reaching 120 mph toward downtown Houston before heading west on the Katy Freeway. Carnaby then headed south along the West Loop, exiting at Woodway where the chase finally came to an end.

Harris County medical examiners said the autopsy will probably be performed today.

Washington, a 22-year HPD veteran, and Foster, who has been on the force for about 15 years, later told investigators they fired because they were in fear for their safety, police said.

Police said the shooting was apparently captured by the dashboard cameras of the HPD patrol cars.

Carnaby slumped to the ground after the officers began firing. He was motionless when they placed him in handcuffs.

'This doesn't smell right'
Although an initial examination revealed no weapons inside the man's car, that changed once it was taken into custody for a more detailed search.

"We have located three weapons inside the vehicle — two pistols and a shotgun," said HPD spokesman John Cannon. "At least one of them was within reach of the suspect."

The frontage road was closed for several hours Tuesday as investigators questioned the officers behind long lines of crime scene tape.

"What's going on?" a passing motorist shouted out as he crawled along the clogged West Loop.

That's the question his friends want answered. They say Carnaby had no reason to run or disobey police. Platt said he had dined with Carnaby both Saturday and Sunday and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Carnaby was engaged to be married, he said, and led a happy life.

"I can't fathom any reason why he would be running from the police because he is the police," Platt said. "This doesn't make any sense. I can't understand him running or why they opened up on him. This doesn't smell right."

Staff reporter Cindy George contributed to this report.
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Postby Ultra Swain » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:28 pm

Suicide by cop?
Geez,am I NOT ALLOWED TO BE INTENSE FOR JUST 10 FUCKING SECONDS??!!!!!!!
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Postby redharen » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:28 pm

For a guy high up in the intelligence community, he sure seems to have a lot of friends willing to talk about how he was high up in the intelligence community.
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Postby Hitoru » Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:08 pm

Ultra Swain wrote:Suicide by cop?
They showed him getting shot on the first run of the local news.

Carnaby was engaged to be married, he said, and led a happy life. (?)

He may be retired CIA, But they won't confirm or deny. The local police said they thought he worked for the FBI, someone has to know if he was for real or not.
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Postby Hitoru » Thu May 01, 2008 12:37 pm

April 30, 2008, 11:59PM
Was it a spy, or would-be spy, in that SUV?
Despite CIA mementos and other evidence, Roland Carnaby's life remains an enigma

By LINDSAY WISE, DALE LEZON and MIKE TOLSON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
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Looking at Roland Carnaby's mementos

Much about Roland Carnaby's life speaks to a long career as a devoted intelligence officer — from his effort to build a local chapter of the professional association to his personal friendships with current and former members of the intelligence community to his respect and affection for law enforcement and its dignitaries.

His home in Pearland is filled with pieces of his patriotic past. Plaques honor his years of service to the Central Intelligence Agency. A book written by former CIA Director George Tenet is inscribed with a warm and playful message. Photos of him at CIA headquarters, in front of military aircraft and with various dignitaries are prominently displayed.

A small room off the front foyer was Carnaby's study. There's an American flag on the wall and a "CIA" coffee mug on the desk.

Now, in the wake of his strange death Tuesday at the conclusion of a high-speed police chase, doubts have been raised about his oft-projected persona as a CIA operative by the agency itself. It bluntly disavowed employing him. Might the denial be little more than standard operating procedure, as his wife suggests? Or could it be that he spent years constructing an elaborate fraud, with a home filled more with artifice than artifacts?

When his wife, Susan, was asked if she now thinks it possible her husband could have been lying to her for more than a decade, she hesitated.

"How would you know?" she replied quietly. "How would you know if what anybody told you was true?"

As family and friends gathered to mourn his loss, her wavering confidence loomed large. A day after police shot him as he made an ill-advised move upon exiting his SUV, the Carnaby that so many thought they knew had become a shadowy figure, one who apparently concealed from his wife his true whereabouts and from his friends many of the pertinent details of his private life. Even some who stand by him admit they never got to know him really well.

"He never really wanted to talk about his personal life," said one friend who asked not to be named. "Obviously there are some missing pieces."

This friend, and others, remain loyal, both to the warm and engaging man they knew and to the intelligence agent he claimed to be. They insist his bona fides were too solid and his recognition by former intelligence personnel too genuine for him to be a fake. A caller identifying himself only as "Chuck" and responding to an inquiry sent to chapters of the Association for Intelligence Officers insisted Carnaby worked with the CIA in the 1980s in its Soviet Union unit.

The CIA disputes this, which if true means that the agency identification he carried with him at the time of his death and which he occasionally flashed to friends and law enforcement officers would have been bogus.

"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 said. "He was never a CIA officer."

Wife doubts CIA denial

Of course, the denial doesn't prove that the agency never used him as a contractor. Carnaby was fluent in many languages, family and friends say, including Arabic and French, and could have been useful in the Mideast, especially in the waning days of the Cold War.

Susan Carnaby does not put much stock in the CIA denial.

"No, because why would they even admit it?" she said. "How many cases could that blow? I think that's not their policy to make comments on that type of thing. Roland always told me that if anything ever happened to him don't expect anyone to stand up and say that's what he did for a living. They keep these things undercover for a reason."

A former wife, however, is less convinced. Sha'rie Burch, who lives in Willis, said much about her ex-husband struck her as odd when they were married. He told her he worked with the CIA and even had a small badge, but never explained what he did. If she asked for more details, she said, he'd get defensive and not answer.

"He had very big, tall stories that were hard to believe," Burch said. "It was kind of a suspicious thing."

Port Authority connection

On the other hand, he was friends with local federal agents and they often came to the couple's Spring home for dinner, Burch said. The couple had private dinners with the head of the Houston Port Authority, she said, and Carnaby also was close friends with former Harris County Sheriff Johnny Klevenhagen, who she said was best man at their wedding in 1986. Klevenhagen died in 1999.

The Port Authority connection could make sense for a strictly commercial reason. Carnaby's family, which used the different spelling of Karnabe, was involved in the shipping industry, which was the apparent source of his considerable but undetermined income. He paid cash for his cars.

Burch said she first met him when she was about 19. Friends introduced them. He was 10 years older, drove a Ferrari and boasted about his family homes in New York and Geneva.

He was the son of a wealthy Lebanese family that owns a shipping business, she said. She said he told her that he was born and raised in New York City.

His father, Vincent Said Carnaby, was a Lebanese ambassador to several countries, she said, and son Roland worked for the family business and often traveled for business.

He and Burch divorced in 1993. Part of the reason, she said, was his hot temper.

By the time of their divorce, Carnaby already had another romance brewing. A petite woman with curly brown hair and glasses, Susan Carnaby teaches eighth grade in Northshore. The 56-year-old met her husband about 17 years ago when she worked as the manager of a men's store in the Galleria.

She described him as a gentleman, worldly and traveled.

"He's one of those people who's very unique, very vibrant, the life of the party, knows everybody," she said. "He likes to be around people. He's a people person."

He told her he was a CIA agent and she had no reason to doubt him, she said.

After dating for about five years, the couple married in Las Vegas on Nov. 10, 1997. "He planned the whole thing," she said.

Susan Carnaby said her husband often traveled overseas, leaving for months at a time. If he was in Washington, he would tell her, but most of the time she had no idea where he had gone, she said. It was top secret, he told her.

The last time she saw her husband was in March, she said.

The news that he was in town when he was supposedly traveling, and the mention of a supposed fiancee, stunned her when she learned it after his death. She said she and her husband were not separated.

"Not as far as I know," she said, adding that the couple just moved into their new house in Pearland last June. "All his things are here."

Police Wednesday were still trying to fit together the series of events that ended when Carnaby was shot by officers who surrounded his vehicle after a chase that ended near the Galleria.

During the chase, Carnaby called a friend on his cell phone. The friend, whom police have not identified, was supposed to have lunch with Carnaby that day.

"The guy was telling him, 'You need to pull over. You need to do what the officers are telling you,' " said Capt. Steve Jett, commander of HPD's homicide division. "His answer was, 'I can't.' "

Tapes back HPD's account

Police don't know why Carnaby felt unable to comply with the officers' demands. He appeared shaky and nervous when pulled over for speeding on Texas 288 near West Orem. He presented a card identifying himself as a CIA employee.

The card was laminated and bore the seal of the espionage agency.

Police said they are waiting for federal officials to determine if the document was legitimate or a fabrication.

Investigators said the three weapons discovered in his car appeared to be Carnaby's and were legally owned. One pistol was under the passenger-side floor mat while a second was between the seats. A pistol-grip shotgun was on the floor board of the back seat. Jett said a round was in the shotgun and the safety was off.

"All he would have to do was reach over the console and pick it up," Jett said.

The officers told investigators they feared for their safety when he reached back into the Jeep for what turned out to be a "shiny" personal assistant-cellular phone.

Jett said there is video and audio that backs up the officers' contention that Carnaby acted "erratically," before making a "very quick overt move" toward an officer.

He said the HPD would probably seek to prevent release of the audio and video until the investigation concludes.

"We have no idea why he ran. We are investigating that," he said. "He was very nervous. The officer said that he was shaking, and the officer didn't understand because most law enforcement would have been friendly."

A review of public records showed that Carnaby had a clean record save for two speeding tickets, including one last summer in Fairfax, Va.
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Postby Hitoru » Tue May 06, 2008 3:13 am

The CIA is still denying he was ever a employee and his wife is sueing the city for a wrongful death.

And then I found this crazy shit:

Enter Roland Vincent Carnaby, known as "Tony" to his Houston and Langley colleagues, a retired CIA counter-terrorism and financial intelligence expert, who was operating a CIA private intelligence contractor in Houston, was involved in homeland security measures for the port of Houston and the Houston airports, was the head of the Houston chapter of the Association for Intelligence Officers (AFIO), but above all, was contracted by the CIA for operating a financial intelligence group consisting of some 40 people in Rome that was tracking Russian-Israeli Mafia money flows, particularly with regard to off-shore Panamanian corporations. WMR has been told by a knowledgeable source that Carnaby had successfully penetrated a major Israeli financial ring that was tied to various Israeli intelligence operations in the United States. Carnaby, a Lebanese-American, also had extensive contacts in the Middle East, including Lebanon and its major political force that is anathema to the Bush neo-cons and their Israeli puppet masters, Hezbollah.

But it was Carnaby's role in identifying Israeli intelligence financing that apparently made him public enemy number one for the Israelis. WMR has been told by a knowledgeable source that Carnaby possessed detailed information about former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's relationship with convicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, information that connected DeLay and other top Republicans to pay-offs from organizations and individuals linked to the Russian-Israeli Mafia and Israeli intelligence. Specifically, the pay-offs came to the U.S. Family Network, set up by DeLay's former Chief of Staff Ed Buckham, from Russian oil and gas interests connected to top Russian-Israeli Mafia tycoons living under the protection of the British and Israeli governments.
Quote:
WMR has learned from knowledgeable sources that Carnaby also had information on Abramoff's Sun Cruz casino boat operation in Florida, a case that involved a mob hit on Sun Cruz's former owner Gus Boulis, and the events of 9/11. Abramoff reportedly entertained at least two the 9/11 hijackers, including Mohammed Atta, on a Madeira Beach, Florida casino boat days before the 9/11 attack. This editor recalls Palfrey stating over dinner that she had information from some of her escorts that involved pre-intelligence on the 9/11 attack. The intersection of Abramoff and his Russian-Israeli mob gang to knowledge possessed by Carnaby and Palfrey suggest that their deaths may have been as brazen as hits as the gunning down of Boulis on a Fort Launderdale street by hit men. That assassination was blamed on Abramoff and his associates.
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Postby Hitoru » Tue May 06, 2008 3:17 am

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

One of the CIA's former counter-terrorism chiefs and pioneers in covert operations, Roland Carnaby retires.
In the past few months, Mr. Carnaby, who has led a private intelligence firm in Houston, Texas has been delegating more and moredaily responsibilities to his lietenants and is completing his succession planning, say people familiar with the matter. A decision about his departure could come within weeks, though the situation remains fluid, say these people.
Alan Premel, 32 years old, whom CIA recruited in 1997 and whom Carnaby personally recruited in 2002 to work with the private intelligence firm in Houston has emerged as the leading candidate to succeed him, added these people. A spokesperson familiar with the retirement plans stated that Premel and his current worries with the US Senate over allegations and ties to the CIA's Rendition program and his recent resignation from CIA amid a slew of disclosure cases pulls him out of the race for President and chief of such a power position within the intelligence community.
The departure of Mr. Carnaby, 52, would mean the loss of CIA's most experienced, talented and high profile clandestine officers in management. Few executives who helped pioneer the commercialization of private intelligence and private security firms have remained on top for as long, except for some who can also claim founder titles, such as Patriot Oil, and Pan-American Shipping and Consulting Group.
Mr. Carnaby's retirement would come at a critical point for CIA. Any efforts to reveerse the slow-down at his private firm could involve drastic changes that may be more palatable under a new CEO like Premel. Mr. Premel, at CIA, was very instrumental in many changes at CIA as a successful supervisor in the Balkans. His management experience at CIA is 25 years behind Carnaby's but with the firm already warning investors in recent months that it will be raising fees in the absence of Mr. Carnaby.
Mr. Premel wrestled with how to reverse the declining momentum before having to exit left stage last summer from the firm after his public disclosure. The firm's third quarter numbers, a key barometer of the firm's health fell 63% without Premel. Before leaving he implemented some changes that were never fully set into motion causing the down-turn after his sudden departure.
The timing of Mr. Carnaby's retirement is of his own choosing, say people familiar with the situation, unlike Premel's pre-mature departure which came 20-years too soon say experts. Not long after he jonied CIA, Roland Carnaby declared that no one person should stay in the same cover in covert operations more than two years. A standard practice used by the firm. This philosophy has accredited the firm with a lot of success claims Mr. Premel in his interview with CNN's David Ensor late of last year.
Under James Pavitt and Roland Carnaby, the firm has become the intelligence community's most successful private consulting business on counter-terrorism, security consulting and intelligence gathering where they pioneered a way for private officers to carry out day to day functions in the field, relay them back to CIA, DoD, DIA or other foreign agencies. In 2004, Mr. Premel streamlined a way for collecting, compliling and disseminating vast amounts of data and breaking it down by himself. The process which is only done by one person, Mr. Premel himself is the work of what 7-9 officers would typically do.
When Carnaby and Premel shared the reigns from 2004-2007, they have delivered more than 10 consecutive quarters of sequential revenue growth. Profit increase every year and the company now has 248 licensed contract officers working for the firm globally, and $297 million in classified contracts over 5 continents. Those figures are up from the firms $18 million in 1997.
To maintain momentum, Mr. Premel, using $40 million from a settlement with CIA, purchased a private lending company in Houston as well as acquiring a private shipping business and a private internet ticketing business.
There were missteps: Last year, the firm took a $80.4 million write-down for its purchase of a private airline business in DC, Houston and Vegas. And threats loomed when recruitment of some of the firm's top and most talented officer's. To keep top talent, Mr. Carnaby and Mr. Premel kicked in an extra $2.4 million for salaries and bonuses to keep the firm afloat.
Mr. Carnaby has long planned for his eventual exit, say people familiar with the matter. He often rotated top officer's into different operational roles as a way to groom potential successors and to give the board a slate of candidates from which to choose.

In his departing emails to friends, firm and CIA colleagues, Mr. Carnaby wrote how much he was pleased by the professionalism and careers of each and all of the persons who have served under him and with him during his 32-year tenure in the US Intelligence Community.
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Postby redharen » Tue May 06, 2008 3:27 am

high profile clandestine officers


I hate the word "oxymoron," but...here's one.
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Postby Hitoru » Tue May 06, 2008 4:43 pm

It appears he was pretty much a fraud, reports are on the local news he might have been a informant of some kind, and he had all his CIA momentos made for himself.
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Postby redharen » Tue May 06, 2008 4:54 pm

This is an interesting story -- thanks for putting it up and I hope you keep us posted, as you're probably more in tune with the local news outlets covering the story.
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Postby Hitoru » Tue May 06, 2008 5:10 pm

'CIA operative' buried; mystery remains

10:53 AM CDT on Tuesday, May 6, 2008

KHOU.com staff report

HOUSTON -- Family members of Roland Carnaby said they had a private burial service Monday for the man killed by Houston police last week. Almost a week after the Pearland man led Houston police on a high-speed chase that ended is his death, his life is still a mystery.

Photo provided by Carnaby family

Carnaby claimed to have been a CIA operative, an assertion that has yet to be refuted, but is doubted by investigators.

The chase began after Carnaby was pulled over for speeding, but when he handed over what appeared to be a CIA credential instead of his driver’s license, the officer grew suspicious. Police were going to arrest Carnaby on suspicion of impersonating a federal officer, but he took off.

The chase, which reached 122 miles per hour at one point, ended when Carnaby stopped and was shot by police as he reached for something in his car. Police thought he was reaching for a weapon, when instead it turned out to be a mobile phone.

His wife has since sued the Houston Police Department for killing her husband.
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Postby redharen » Tue May 06, 2008 5:16 pm

The chase began after Carnaby was pulled over for speeding, but when he handed over what appeared to be a CIA credential instead of his driver’s license, the officer grew suspicious. Police were going to arrest Carnaby on suspicion of impersonating a federal officer, but he took off.


In that quote, you can see which way the reporter is leaning, and it makes sense: the dude handed over a CIA credential, thinking the cops would think it was cool and let him off. Then, when they went to call his bluff, he realized his whole illusory world was about to fall apart, so he went ahead and let the chips fall.

This reminds me of the guys who get caught after years of claiming that they were war heroes, Medal of Honor recipients, etc.
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Postby Hitoru » Tue May 06, 2008 5:20 pm

I think you hit the nail on the head sir.
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Postby Hitoru » Sat May 10, 2008 12:33 am

Carnaby probe continues; HPD checking first aid procedure

By LINDSAY WISE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle


Houston Police Department officials said Friday it is too early to draw any conclusions in their investigation into the death last week of Roland Carnaby, a man who claimed to be a CIA agent before leading officers on a high-speed chase.

However, the department will be looking into whether its officers could do more to aid shooting victims while waiting for paramedics to arrive, said Asst. Chief Michael Dirden of HPD's criminal investigations command.

Officers fatally shot Carnaby, 52, at the end of the 120 mph chase when he stepped out of his SUV and reached back under the seat for a shiny object that turned out to be a personal assistant cellular device.

Carnaby, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the lower back, lay handcuffed on the pavement for 12 minutes after the shooting. He was later pronounced dead at Ben Taub General Hospital.

"We recognize that we can do a better job in trying to ensure first aid is administered swiftly," Dirden said.

Dirden said it is HPD policy for officers to get medical attention for the wounded, but officers are trained only in basic first aid and are not equipped to treat serious gunshot injuries.

He added that the officers involved were traumatized and "may not have been in a situation emotionally" to administer aid to Carnaby immediately.

Carnaby's wife, Susan, has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, accusing the officers of violating her husband's civil rights.

Her attorney, Randall Kallinen, said he found Dirden's comments about the emotional state of the officers in the aftermath of the shooting "to be an extremely odd statement."

"Nobody shot at them," he said. "That's not even credible."

The bizarre chain of events began when Carnaby was stopped for speeding on Texas 288 on April 29.

The officer became suspicious when Carnaby appeared nervous and claimed to be connected to the CIA. Police were trying to determine if Carnaby's claim was true when he sped off. The CIA has since denied he ever worked for the agency.

Officers pursued Carnaby's Jeep to the West Loop feeder road near Woodway, where the chase ended as Carnaby slowed to a stop in traffic.

After the shooting, officers found three weapons in Carnaby's SUV, including two pistols and a pistol-grip shotgun. Police said Friday that investigators have determined Carnaby bought both pistols at a local sporting goods store. They have not determined where he obtained the shotgun, they said.

The Houston police department's homicide and internal affairs divisions, the Harris County District Attorney's office and the medical examiner's office are investigating the incident.

"HPD regrets the loss of life and it's paramount that ... we do a thorough investigation to try to understand all the factors involved," Dirden said.

Both veteran officers who fired at Carnaby, Sgt. Andrew J. Washington and Officer Charles Foster, are back on duty this week, Dirden said.
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Postby Hitoru » Fri May 23, 2008 3:16 am

Lawyer for Carnaby's widow says HPD violated policy

By MIKE GLENN
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle


The lawyer representing Roland Carnaby's widow in her lawsuit against the city said the Houston Police Department violated its own policies when officers pursued the man who claimed to be a CIA agent on a crosstown chase that turned deadly.

The policy, which came into effect about two weeks before the April 29 high-speed chase, mandates that officers "reasonably believe" that immediately apprehending the suspect outweighs any possible risk to the public.

One of the factors to be considered, the policy states, is whether police can gather sufficient information about the person to file an arrest warrant. If so, officers "will be expected to discontinue the pursuit," the policy states.

"They knew exactly who he was and where he lived," said attorney Randall Kallinen. "They knew his criminal record. He had never been arrested for a crime."

Another factor, according to the policy, is the seriousness of the original offense.

Carnaby, 52, was stopped for speeding along Texas 299 near West Orem. He fled after showing the officer an identification card that he claimed came from the CIA.

On Thursday, HPD Chief Harold Hurtt said the department is continuing to investigate the case.

Police said Carnaby failed to present his permit to carry a concealed weapon when officers pulled him over. They later found three weapons inside his Jeep SUV — including a pistol between the front seats and a shotgun with a round in the chamber lying on the backseat floorboard.

Kallinen also criticized the officers' decision to surround Carnaby's vehicle once the chase ended on the southbound 610 West Loop feeder road near Woodway.

"You must get verbal communication once a pursuit has been ended and there is a person in the car (but) they did not," Kallinen said. "They attacked the car with batons."

Police said Carnaby didn't acknowledge the officers encircling his vehicle and opened the driver's side door only after one smashed out the passenger-side window.

Carnaby was fatally shot after stepping out of the vehicle, turning around and reaching under the seat for a shiny object that turned out to be a cellular phone.

Although the CIA maintains that Carnaby had no connection with the organization, Kallinen said Carnaby's past assignments for them and law enforcement agencies like the FBI will come to light during the upcoming lawsuit.

"We will prove that Mr. Carnaby worked for the security interests of the federal government and was paid for it," Kallinen said.

Hurtt said he was told by the FBI that Carnaby "may have" been an informant at one time for them but had no other details about the relationship.

On Thursday, Houston FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said the agency "cannot confirm nor deny the names of people who provide us with information."

mike.glenn@chron.com
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