In case you've been under a rock or too obsessed with other news lately here is a short summary of whats been going on with DPS director Steven McCraw in the last week or so, in regards to the matter of the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas last May 24th. He's moved from a summer hiding place to center stage, possibly for the entire fall, hopefully for his fall. . Some of what he seems to be hiding is seeping to the surface as well.
Texas Trib published a major piece with retired top cops openly critical of his department's response to May 24th LEO responses and the subsequent lies, spin, obfuscation, coverup and misdirection.
Unclear if this was a direct pushback or just funky timing, but right after that the DPS announced it was finished with it's "internal investigation of DPS officer responses" that functioned mostly as a means of refusing to answer media questions or supply requested public records, and that the DPS was recommending 5, now 7 possibly people to the Inspector General for more scrutiny, but it seems like maybe that was what his next gaffe was in reference to. None of the so-called experts expect the IG will do anything except maybe slap some people on the write who were out there tasering or detaining parents outside the school, But its hard to have any opinion because as usual the DPS is completely non-transparant on who the 5, now seemingly 7, (see USA Today) people are who now must face the IG, a department no one seems to know much about. The general consensus is that the fix is in, but who nows for sure?
It seems that KXAN caught him in a gaffe in the minutes of an internal meeting where McCraw seemed to be promising all the troopers that "no one was going to jail." McCraw tried to use a spox as a screen to avoid facing the questions directly from the press, but then, boom:
Simon P from CNN buttonholed McCraw on his way into some sort of a function in Brownsville Surprise, McCraw, WTF about all this stuff and in general, where were your 91 guys and why have you lied about them all, etc for abotu 2-3 minutes as McCraw deseroeately tried to give media-coached inadequate but not out of control answers. He looked about like he always looks, only a full MAGA authoritarian type person would think he was credible, but in his crawfishing-best moment he tried to get tough and he said he would resign if it looked like his DPS people were caught doing something, but of course that's the problem - it's likely they didn't do anything at all, when they should have.
What the hell happened next? Oh yeah, buried in the middle of the Tx Trib's "ex-cops say McCraw is a loser" piece was the name of the DPS mystery man who got there first, seemingly. And get this, campers, he rode there with everyone's favorite Punisher lockscreen 3%er CISD police Ruiz, he of the dying wife. It's possibly very important. His name is Juan Maldonado, and his job is to liaison with law enforcement and to be in charge of security. He offices at the Uvalde high school. The issue isn't so much what he did, but what ever it may be that he didn't do. We all saw the result.What we didn't know is that DPS had been lying and hiding the fact that a guy whose job is to liaison with cops and be in charge of security was there at the same time, or possibly even before Aredondo.
Naturally, Rome wasn't built in a day and no major media outlet is yet highlighting this aspect, the Mystery Man angle but it's coming out into the open and someone surely is going to put two and two together soon. Right now the main story seems to be McCraw himself is the man of the hour. He's imploding and can't stand the scrutiny if it lasts. Ever since his dog and pony show to the Senate, where he focused all eyes on Arredondo and off of his own 91 troopers, he's put himself in the forward position second only to the chief, since the real story is all the stonewalling and unanswered questions.
And now Arredondo is released from not only his job but his duty to answer questions.
The last thing going so far is that USA Today produced a bizarre celeb style puff piece on McCrawthat came out with the Sunday funny papers. In it, he made more small admissions and there were one or two details previously known revealed. It was like a strong PR move on McCraw's part to save his own hide, but it mainly serves to keep him in the spotlight. It reads like a list of poor excuses frmo a person who has a lot to hide.
What happens next is anyone's guess but of course Tx Trib has to comment on it, and the round of the news cycle begins all over again in regards to Uvalde but as eyes fade from being the big story of June and July, at least now in September we've come finally to the part where the lead authorities are being examined more closely.
Congress will be back in session soon and restart the Jan 6th commission. Trump has multiple legal problems. Some nice old lady died in England and it takes a week or so to dig a hole there. Elections are less than 60 days away in many states. Greg Abbott hasn't made Uvalde go away, and now his #1 operative in charge of making it go away is no longer hidden, where he previously last seen since July. There isn't a whole lot of new space for the media to examine Unlade unless and until actual facts surface. The DPS solidly holds all the facts back presently.
None of this is what the parents of Uvalde and the people of Texas deserve - transparency - but it seems like it might be a step in the right direction.