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seamusTX wrote:I don't know. Most people don't have $100,000 in assets that can be seized in a judgment.

So sell their internal organs. Rent them out to third world countries as mercenaries. Take them down to the county fair and charge $50 a pop to zap them with a tazer. There are all sorts of ways to make money off cops and city administrators if you're creative enough.

Then it's not clear whose fault it was that the sprinkler valve room was locked.

I'm pretty sure whoever approved turning it into a SWAT equipment locker did so with the intent that it be locked.

seamusTX wrote:Approximately 500 gallons of water escaped, causing damage estimated at $100,000 or more.

They found about four inches of water pouring out of the narcotics division and into other areas, such as the emergency-dispatch center,

500 gallons, four inches deep would be in the neighborhood of 190 square feet. (i.e. smaller than a 14'x14' square) Either that's an awfully small "narcotics division and other areas" or somebody's messing with the numbers. OTOH, 500 gallons in 31 minutes is about 16gpm, and the specs I've seen seem to indicate about 15gpm as a minimum for a single sprinkler head, so maybe that's where they're getting that number.

It took 31 minutes to get into the mechanical room, where the cutoff valve for the sprinkler system is.

That’s because the Galveston Police Department was using the room as a locker for its SWAT equipment and had welded a steel gate onto the entrance.

The work of true geniuses. Too bad they have a scapegoat this time, so the higher-ups that approved violating their lease and restricting access to fire-suppression equipment will be pretty much forgotten. (Also, every large building I've worked in has required at least weekly checks of the fire riser pressures for the insurance company, and I doubt they're getting SWAT guys to deal with that, so I wonder if those inspections are getting fudged.)

The city has acknowledged that Wednesday’s mishap was the result of “human error” and that it is responsible for the damages, Maxwell said.

So much easier to do when it's not actually your money that you'll be paying with.

“While in the narcotics office, one officer of the narcotics unit was handling an Air-Soft pellet rifle. This type of rifle is commonly used in recreational sports activities, and discharges a small plastic pellet.

“While the officer was handling the weapon he discharged it.

Wow, at least they got that part right: not "it just went off all by itself."

The discharged pellet ricocheted off a box at an upward angle and struck the filament in an overhead fire suppression sprinkler head.

How delicate are these things? An Airsoft pellet from the right gun can have quite a bit of punch, but after a ricochet? Sounds more like he was using the sprinkler head for target practice.