Moody Park Riot (1978)

Duration: 10:37

Year Published: 1978

Sound: sound

Description: This unedited footage from Houston’s KPRC-TV captures the scene on Fulton Street after a Cinco de Mayo celebration in adjacent Moody Park erupted into riots on the night of May 7, 1978. By May 1978, tensions between law enforcement and the local Mexican-American community were exceedingly high. Cinco de Mayo marked the one-year anniversary of the police-involved death of José Campos Torres, a 23-year-old Mexican American and Vietnam War veteran. That the officers responsible for Torres’ death faced only a yearlong probation and a dollar fine provoked further outrage. So when police arrived at the Moody Park celebration to make an arrest for disorderly conduct, attendees retaliated. Some threw rocks and bottles at law enforcement officers, while others overturned police cars. The situation escalated as more officers in riot gear arrived on the scene. Stores across a 10-block area around Fulton Street were looted and set on fire. One police officer suffered a broken leg after being struck by a car, while a KPRC reporter and cameraman were assaulted by a hostile crowd. The violence ended by the early morning hours of May 8, after 22 people were arrested.