The Houston narcotics officer at the center of the controversial botched January no-knock drug raid will be retiring soon, according to Chron.com.
Steven O. Bryant filed his retirement paperwork earlier week while still under investigation after the shooting deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas on Jan. 28.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is currently looking into more than 800 criminal cases connected to Bryant from his 23-years in the department.
Bryant was relieved of duty after it was revealed Tuttle and Nicholas had no black tar heroin in their home and didn't sell drugs to an undercover informant, allegations that were the basis for the no-knock raid. Police also didn't find any scales, baggies or other miscellaneous items often associated with drug dens.
Gerald Goines, a case agent, was wounded in the neck with a bullet as he raided the private residence. He's also been relieved of duty after Police Chief Art Acevedo announced the officer purportedly lied about the undercover drug buy that never happened.
Two other narcotics officers from the raid also retired. One of them is currently under investigation for unrelated matters.
Bryant told investigators he retrieved two bags of heroin from Goines police car after being instructed to do so by another officer. The warrant for the raid claimed the heroin came from inside the house. Eventually Bryant admitted he never saw the narcotics in question before taking it out of the officer's vehicle. In other words, Dennis Tuttle likely didn't sell that heroin. It came from somewhere else.
The FBI is currently conducting a civil rights investigation into this incident.
A lot has happened since the day Houstonians learned Tuttle never sold drugs to the undercover informant . The HPD has announced they'll no longer be conducting no-knock raids on drug warrants. At least one good thing came out of this whole tragedy. Sort of.