HOUSTON -- A memo shed light Monday on a controversial raid in a Kmart parking lot that netted nearly 300 arrests.

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Attorney Speaks Out

An attorney for Houston Police Capt. Mark Aguirre said that a memo dated Aug. 13 to Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford showed that there would be mass arrests in a crackdown on street racing.

Aguirre's attorney said that if his client is reprimanded over the raid, the police chief should be as well.

"For the chief's office now to say they didn't know there were going to be mass amount of arrests out there, it's just not true," said Terry Yates, Aguirre's attorney.

Aguirre was behind "Operation Eracer," where 278 people were arrested on Aug. 17 in the parking lot of Kmart, 8400 Westheimer Road.

Many of those arrested said they were innocent and filed complaints with HPD.

"If there's something wrong with that, then Chief Bradford is just as responsible as Capt. Aguirre," Lewis said.

Aguirre has been relieved of duty while the internal affairs division investigates the case.

Yates filed a temporary restraining order, asking for a stop to the investigation.

"That should be done by a panel appointed by city council or the mayor's office -- a side apart from (internal affairs division), which is controlled directly by Chief Bradford," Lewis said.

Residents in the neighborhood where Aguirre patrols support him and said that he has helped clean up the area.

"Everything he's done over there has been for the good of the whole community. We have never seen anyone work as hard as he has to try to solve the problems that we have over there," former Houston city councilman Felix Fraga said.

"I feel terrible for him because I feel that the man has worked hard to work to get where he is and to help the rest of us and I feel that this is unjust and I feel that a lot of it starts at the top," resident Sam Lasell said. "I don't think that it's all his fault."

"He's controversial. There's no doubt about that. But he has done the citizens of this community a great service and served them admirably for 23 years," Lewis said.

Lawsuit Filed

The Houston chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Monday in connection with the parking lot sting.

The ACLU filed it on behalf of Justin Esparza. Aguirre and the city of Houston are listed as defendants.

An ACLU attorney expects that more lawsuits will be filed.

Exclusive: Internal Memo Detailed Raid

While Aguirre claimed headquarters was in on every step of the raid, the News2Houston Investigators obtained an internal Houston Police Department memo that contradicts that.

Many of Aguirre's fellow HPD managers said the memo mapped out the full plans for "Operation Eracer" and it mentions nothing about arresting everyone in sight, according to an exclusive News2Houston report.

The document is dated just before the raid.

Assistant chief C.A. McClelland wrote that he approved the plan of action submitted by Aguirre.

Throughout the five-page memo, it mentioned that the operation was aimed at eliminating street racing, and then on page three, it listed specifics.

The memo said only those identified as "racers" will be arrested.

Curfew violators or those drinking in public would be arrested too, but for everyone else -- the spectators -- the memo said they would be told to leave, then they would be checked for license and insurance -- a zero tolerance-type crackdown.

The plan approved by headquarters said citations would be issued for all violations discovered in the sweep.

Nowhere in the memo is there a single mention of arresting people for trespassing, which is the charge that sent 378 people to jail that night.

Fellow HPD supervisors told News2Houston that they were completely caught off guard when the raid detailed in the memo turned into an "arrest everyone on site" operation.

Aguirre signed the bottom of the memo, which is much more recent than the memo from May that he's now using to show that headquarters knew what he was up to.

In the May memo, Aguirre made a brief mention of mass arrests, but offered no specifics.