GALVESTON, Texas — Galveston Police Chief Doug Balli is back on the job after being suspended following a raid on a home last month while police were looking for a murder suspect.
That’s according to the chief, who announced on Saturday that he had returned to duty on February 7. He had been placed on administrative leave after officers raided a house on Avenue O near 53rd Street while searching for a teen who had been accused of killing a man a few days before.
"The communication failure was mine and I fully understand that and just want to move past that," Balli said. "I will ensure that that doesn't happen again. I trusted the process that the city conducted, as far as an investigation and I was very happy to be able to return to work late Tuesday afternoon."
Balli said the city's investigation was conducted by its human resources director. When Galveston City Manager Brian Maxwell announced Balli’s administrative leave, he said it was because of failure to communicate details about the search.
"I can't really speak on the details of the investigation, but I was very happy to be cleared and return to work and be able to move forward from this," Balli said. "I sincerely appreciate the support of the officers and the police department as well as the citizens. Thank you for believing in me and thank you for believing in your department."
The homicide
On Jan. 20, Galveston police said officers responded to 39th Street near Broadway Avenue J after getting reports of shots fired.
When officers arrived, they found Malik Dunn, 25, who had been shot multiple times. He was taken to an area hospital where he died, police said.
Days later, detectives said a 17-year-old suspect was taken into custody on a murder charge, but also said the investigation was ongoing. That suspect later had that murder charge dropped.
The raid
Authorities said they were searching for the teenage homicide suspect when they showed up at a house on Avenue O in the early-morning hours of Jan. 22. They said they had search and arrest warrants and were there to take the teen into custody in connection with Dunn's death.
According to police, investigators had "credible evidence" that the teenage suspect was at the house on Avenue O. Police said the teen wasn't found at the home during the raid but was arrested a day later.
After his arrest, the Galveston Police Department said it "received new evidence and information to vacate the homicide charge." Galveston PD said it reached out to the district attorney's office to get the charge dismissed.
Inside the house
Erika Rios said it was her house that police raided that morning. She said she and her kids were home sleeping when they were woken up around 2 a.m. by police yelling outside.
Rios said the officers yelled a couple of times for them to come out and then started shooting wooden pellets through the windows of the house.
The officers told Rios and her children that they were searching for the teen who had been identified as the then-wanted suspect in Dunn's death.
Rios said she and her son were handcuffed.
"We had no idea what was going on," she said.
She said her home sustained damage -- from broken windows to broken doors. She said she was told that she could file a complaint with the police department or the city, but she said she didn't think she'd get far by doing that. She also said she was afraid to come forward about what happened out of fear of police retaliation.