One Year After Waco Twin Peaks Shootout, Bikers Face Heavy Consequences
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
WACO (CBSDFW.COM) - It's the gun battle that left nine dead, but affected nearly 200 families including many in North Texas.
One year ago Tuesday, the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco turned into one of the bloodiest scenes in recent memory after a shootout between bikers and police. The restaurant on I-35 has remained closed from the moment gunshots rang out on May 17, 2015.
But a year later, the arrested bikers still haven't seen their day in court or even know the details of the charges against them. George Bergman is one of them. "I think about it all the time," he said.
He will spend this May 17 in his Balch Springs home. Last year on that date he found himself in the chaos in and around a the popular restaurant where the shooting started right after he arrived for a meeting between as many as 20 biker groups.
"I was going to go next-door to go to the restroom because there were so many people there and all of a sudden a fight started, then some gunfire went off," said Bergman.
The 48-year-old biker said he didn't pull a gun on anybody and his biker affiliation alone got him charged and indicted for engaging in organized crime to commit murder. "I thought the charges would be dropped. Everybody made a huge mistake.... I thought everything would go away," said Bergman.
But it didn't.
Bergman and more than 150 others face possible life sentences for nine deaths whether they fired a shot or not. "We've been together 26... 27 years, we're supposed to be renewing our vows in October," said Bergman's wife Judy, "Is he going to be here the next 25 years of my life or am I going to be looking through glass at him? It's terrifying."
Bergman is back driving his 18-wheeler to support his family but his bond includes harsh travel restrictions and is forbidden from having contact with any of his bike friends.
Bergman has filed a civil lawsuit against Waco Police for prosecuting him. On Tuesday, an attorney for several bikers will file a motion to disqualify the DA from the case because he was improperly at the scene when it was going down.
(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
