Wacotrib by Tommy Witherspoon 7/2/2018
The anxiety was etched across Marty Lewis' face as he emerged from the Waco Police Department.
It was clear Lewis was uncomfortable being back in Waco. As he sat for a brief interview, one of the first things he said was that he wanted to get back on the road and out of town. Waco left him with bitterness, he said.
It had to be something important to bring Lewis back to the city where the retired San Antonio police detective was arrested after a shootout between biker groups at a Twin Peaks restaurant in May 2015. The decorated former officer was locked up with 176 other bikers that day on first-degree felony charges. He was jailed for 22 days under $1 million bond before his attorney could negotiate a lower bond.
Lewis' mugshot was spread across America as the face of the deadly Twin Peaks shootout. Like the half-white, half-black beard he sports, Lewis was a dichotomy, the ex-cop biker. He is a grandfather and family man, the father of three successful children and a second-generation police officer who retired after a distinguished 32-year career in law enforcement.
Yet police and prosecutors branded him and others as members of violent street gangs who came to Waco in a show of force, armed to the teeth, expecting a brawl with their rivals and not caring if innocent families dining out after Sunday church were in the danger zone.
Lewis, a member of the Valerosos motorcycle group, a Bandidos support club, is still upset about how he and others were characterized after the gun battle that left nine dead and 20 injured. He said he came to Waco to attend a biker coalition meeting, like he had dozens of other times at gatherings across the state.
More:
https://www.wacotrib.com/news/courts_and_trials/twin-peaks-shootout-forfeitures-following-path-of-criminal-cases/article_5121b3b0-3f2d-5ab4-977f-1fea2aac2f24.html
