Pubdate: August 7, 1999
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Copyright: 1999, World Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.tulsaworld.com/

PROTESTERS QUESTION FATAL POLICE SHOOTING

WILBURTON (AP) -- Protesters gathered downtown Friday for a second day to
demand answers about the police shooting of a man who allegedly threatened
an officer with a brick.

Waving signs that read, "How would you feel if it was your child?" "Honk
for justice" and "All we want is answers and the truth," dozens of people
marched outside Wilburton City Hall on Thursday. A group of about 20
returned Friday to protest the July 31 shooting of Floyd Wayne Houston, 22.

Houston's mother and 4-year-old daugh ter both carried signs. "Justice for
my daddy," the little girl's placard read.

"Obviously the family is wanting answers out of the investigation that have
not come forward yet," Mayor Danny Baldwin said Friday. "We're hopeful that
once the medical examiner and OSBI are able to furnish a report that will
clear up some answers for them."

District Attorney Rob Wallace expects to receive a preliminary report on
the shooting next week from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Houston was shot twice by Officer Tom Mosely on July 31 after a 10:30 a.m.
traffic stop. Protesters questioned the official version of events that led
to the death.

The state Medical Examiner's Office in Tulsa listed gunshots to the abdomen
and chest as the cause of death. Houston's relatives said they found
possible gunshot holes in his head and bruises on his wrists.

"His face was bruised so bad, makeup couldn't even cover it up," said Gayla
Smith, one of Houston's cousins.

Mosely told investigators that he smelled marijuana and ordered Houston out
of the car, an OSBI spokeswoman has said. At that point, Houston ran into a
wooded area.

The officer chased Houston and said he found him holding a brick as if to
throw it and ordered him to drop it. Mosely told investigators he fired
when Houston acted again as if were going to hurl the brick.

"What could a brick do against a gun?" protester Kim Wilkett asked.

Mosely is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the OSBI
investigation.

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