HPD officers not indicted in alleged CIA agent's death No indictments in death of man claiming CIA ties

2 officers shot driver after chase; civil suit continues

A Harris County grand jury Thursday declined to indict two Houston police officers in the shooting death of a man who claimed to be a CIA agent.

Roland Carnaby was fatally wounded on April 29 after fleeing from a traffic stop and leading police on a high-speed chase through the city.

Carnaby was killed after stepping out of his vehicle on a feeder road off Loop 610 West, turning around and reaching under the seat for a shiny object that turned out to be a cell phone.

The grand jury declined to indict Sgt. Andrew Washington and officer Cecil Foster, said Donna Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

"Fatal shootings involving law enforcement are referred directly to a grand jury," Hawkins said. "After careful consideration, the grand jury chose not to indict the two officers involved."

Initially placed on administrative leave, both officers returned to duty days after the shooting.

Carnaby, 52, of Pearland, was stopped for speeding on Texas 288. He showed the officer an identification card that he claimed was issued by the Central Intelligence Agency but fled after police learned he had a license to carry a concealed weapon.

The CIA insisted that Carnaby was not connected to the agency. His widow, Susan Carnaby, has maintained that Carnaby was a longtime CIA employee who frequently left the country on assignments.

Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt has said he was told by the FBI that Carnaby "may have" been an informant at one time for them but had no other details about the relationship. At the time, a Houston FBI spokeswoman said the agency "cannot confirm nor deny the names of people who provide us with information."

Susan Carnaby has filed a lawsuit against the city saying HPD violated its own policies when officers pursued him.

Her attorney, Randall Kallinen, said it was unfortunate the two officers were not indicted, but the no-bill does not preclude the city from liability.

If the officers were acting in the scope of their duties, their employer would be liable for the death instead of the officers individually, Kallinen said.

Kallinen also said Carnaby was an independent contractor for the CIA, the FBI and the Secret Service. He said Carnaby's ability to speak seven languages enabled him to do in-depth background checks for the federal agencies.

He also said HPD's chase policy is "highly flawed." Hurtt said the department is reviewing the policy.

"Anytime we have an incident like that, we go back and look at training policy and procedures. If there are changes that need to be made or training that needs to be improved, we do that," Hurtt said. "It appears that they (the officers) did a pretty fair job of following what our policy states and what the law was."

Chronicle reporter Mike Glenn contributed to this report.

brian.rogers@chron.com