19 Sep 2012
The University of Texas Police Department is looking for a suspect who pulled fire alarm boxes at eight buildings at the university on Monday. All eight buildings had to be evacuated, and the alarms affected locations on the north and south sides of the campus. No fire or other emergency was discovered.
Initiating a false fire alarm is a criminal offense in Texas, ordinarily a Class A misdemeanor under section 42.06 of the Penal Code. That section provides as follows:
“FALSE ALARM OR REPORT. (a) A person commits an offense if he knowingly initiates, communicates or circulates a report of a present, past, or future bombing, fire, offense, or other emergency that he knows is false or baseless and that would ordinarily: (1) cause action by an official or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies; (2) place a person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury; or (3) prevent or interrupt the occupation of a building, room, place of assembly, place to which the public has access, or aircraft, automobile, or other mode of conveyance.”
Although the UT case was likely a prank, conduct of that sort contributes to the fact that in Austin, about 75% of all alarms are false. This obviously inconveniences people, makes fire personnel unavailable for a time to deal with true emergencies, and has a tendency to lead people to ignore alarms when they hear them. This noteworthy, but it isn’t the only rationale for our choice of the incident as a subject of this blog.
Another reason we chose to comment on the recent false alarms has to do with the varying descriptions of the alleged perpetrator. In that regard, there were security cameras that shot videos of the suspect, and eyewitnesses who described the appearance of the man. In one story, the description is of a man who is 5 feet 5 inches tall. In the other, the suspect is described as being approximately 6 feet in height.
In our blog of May 25, 2012 (Wrongful Convictions in Texas), we pointed out some of the dangers inherent in relying upon eyewitness identification in criminal cases. In the UT case, the reporters who wrote the stories had the benefit of speaking to the police and eyewitnesses within a short time after the events, as well as viewing at least two videos, from different angles, with clear pictures of the suspect. Yet the man’s height varies by over half a foot.
As experienced Austin criminal attorneys, we believe that all defendants are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and we don’t prejudge cases. Even eyewitness testimony can be wrong and, as seen in the UT case, wrong by a wide margin.
Law Office of David D. White, PLLC
1205 Rio Grande Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 369-3737