(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) FBI Director Christopher Wray commented on the arrest of pro-life activist Mark Houck, who the FBI seized in his home for alleged violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, defending the show of force as “protocol.”
The FBI arrested Houck in front of his family in the early hours of the morning when several vans of agents stormed into his personal home. The violation of the FACE act was defending his young son from a confrontation with an escort at the abortion clinic, where they were protesting the practice of killing babies.
Fox News host Bret Baier said witnesses to the Feds raid on Houck said it looked like they arrived to arrest “a cartel boss who was holed up.”
Baier asked about the possibility of excessive force in Houck’s arrest in an interview with Wray, reported Breitbart.
“[Houck] was recently aquitted of all charges at the trial,” Baier said. “The show of force for that arrest, a lot of people said what it looked like for a cartel boss who was holed up, that decision to use that force, was that by the book?”
Wray responded to the question by pinning the responsibility on field commanders.
“Those decisions are made, as they should be, by the commanders on the ground in the field office who have the expertise about when to conduct operations safety and securely for everybody involved, not just their own safety and the safety of the subject who’s bieng arrested, but anybody else who’s around,” Wray explained. “And, to my knowledge, those processes were all followed in this case.”
Houck does not have a criminal record and is not considered to be violent threat.
Baier pointed this out to Wray, who further defended the decision and argued that it was “standard” and “irrespective of ideology.”
“It doesn’t matter who you’re upset with, you don’t get to express that upset with violence,” he explained. “And so, we’re agnostic as to the ideology and focused on the violence. And I will say, as to your description of FBI protocol, it is not unheard of for the FBI… to use tactical agents… for even a white-collar arrest.”
Houck was recently acquitted in court, and will not face charges for the confrontation.
