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Carnaby’s widow, Susan, has filed a civil suit against the city in federal court and, in documents reviewed by 11 News, claims Carnaby was in fact working for the CIA.

“The FBI and the CIA regularly fail to disclose the truth to the Houston Police Department,” one court filing said.

In another, Carnaby’s attorney says he plans to call a former Secret Service agent to testify “with respect to Mr. Carnaby’s work on behalf of the Secret Service and other federal agencies as a contract informant and operative.”

Randall Kallinen, Carnaby’s attorney, says he definitely was a CIA agent.

“He helped the United States of America with its threats, and then to be shot in the back and for police to claim that he was not working in the interest of the United States is a travesty,” Kallinen said.

Kallinen plans to call former President George H.W. Bush to the stand to support Carnaby’s claim. According to court documents Kallinen expects Bush would testify regarding his prior associations and personal acquaintance with Mr. Carnaby, and regarding Mr. Carnaby’s involvement in uncovering two assassination plots on the life of President Bush.

Kallinen plans to call former President George H.W. Bush to the stand to support Carnaby’s claim. According to court documents Kallinen expects Bush would testify regarding his prior associations and personal acquaintance with Mr. Carnaby, and regarding Mr. Carnaby’s involvement in uncovering two assassination plots on the life of President Bush.

Michael Bechaud, formerly with the FBI, and James Napolitano, an ex-Secret Service officer, gave sworn statements during separate depositions following his death that they used Carnaby as a confidential informant. According to Napolitano, the Secret Service tried to keep him from talking. A Department of Justice lawyer was present during the depositions to make sure the men did not divulge classified information.
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In a letter to Bechaud, Carnaby outlined 18 investigations he allegedly worked on. They included: two assassination attempts on the first President Bush, one in Kuwait and the other in London; the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; a Secret Service operation regarding an Iranian counterfeiting scheme called the "Super Note" case; the alleged sale of classified information by a U.S. customs agent; the shipment of nuclear materials from Russia to unfriendly nations; the delivery of nuclear fuel rods to Syria and Iran; Hamas terrorist activity and others.
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"I know Roland's godfather was one of the leaders in Lebanon, and I know that his father is very influential over there because of his former position in the government," Shields says. "His father had connections with every businessman in the country. Anybody who wanted to see the president of Lebanon went through Karnabe Sr., so he knew where every bit of money was being made, every bit of shipping was being done and how the ports worked. He was presidential-like, a statesman."

The Karnabes were also rich."
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A federal judge Wednesday tossed out a lawsuit filed by the widow of a man who claimed to be a CIA agent and who was shot at the end of a high speed police chase.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison ruled that the claims of Susan Carnaby failed under the law and should not be put before a jury.

The widow of 52-year-old Roland Carnaby sued the city and Houston Police Department Sgt. Andrew Washington and officer Cecil Foster, who each fired at her husband.

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“The court finds that the officers reasonably feared for their lives at the moment they shot Carnaby, and thus, that no constitutional deprivation occurred,” Ellison wrote.

New look at alleged CIA man's death
Appeals court hears arguments about HPD action
By JAMES PINKERTON
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Dec. 14, 2010, 9:13PM

The bizarre circumstances of the killing of self-proclaimed CIA agent Roland Carnaby by Houston police was the stuff of political espionage.

Carnaby led officers on a high-speed chase more than two years ago after expressing fears he was being targeted for an agency assassination. The case faded into the background, but now seizes the spotlight again after a New Orleans appeals court agreed to reconsider it.

The lawsuit by Carnaby's widow cites repeated failures by Houston police to follow established procedures when officers approach a vehicle they stop in a high-risk situation, also known as a felony stop. Carnaby was shot in the back after a pair of officers rushed his car, counter to police policy requiring officers to take cover and wait after ordering a suspect to get out of a car.
Initial suit dismissed

Last week, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard arguments about the officers' conduct and the department's training procedures in a case brought by Susan Carnaby, the Houston school teacher who was married to the shooting victim, 52.

The initial civil rights case was dismissed in October 2009 by a federal judge, who ruled officers were in fear for their lives when they shot and killed Carnaby and thus did not violate his constitutional rights.

City attorney Dave Feldman said there was no evidence the incident was related to a lack of training or supervision.

"We feel very comfortable with our position in the case and on appeal,“ Feldman said. "Obviously, it's unfortunate any time a citizen is injured and killed, but the record demonstrated these officers acted reasonably under the circumstances, and there was no constitutional violations, or any violations, of Mr. Carnaby's rights."

Officer Charles Foster, who shot Carnaby in the back, said the limited training the department provided on high-risk stops was not adequate to prepare him for such a confrontation, according to his deposition filed as part of the appeal. The officer said the training occurred in a classroom at the police academy since it was raining; chairs were used to simulate passengers sitting in a stopped vehicle.

Attorney Randal Kallinen is asking the appeals court to consider if the city can be held liable for allowing officers to continue to violate the high-risk policy.

Carnaby did considerable work for the FBI, the Secret Service and the CIA in some very significant cases, Kallinen said. The CIA has denied Carnaby was ever an employee or a contractor with the spy agency. Carnaby did head up the Houston chapter of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, but he "went too far“ when he claimed he was a full-fledged CIA officer, said Elizabeth Bancroft, the executive director of the AFIO in McLean, Va.

"The tragedy is he did a lot of good,“ Bancroft said. "He was wonderful for the Houston chapter, and what he did for the country. But it was never enough."
Flashed a CIA badge

The fatal encounter began on April 29, 2008, when HPD officers stopped Carnaby for speeding on Texas 288 in his black Jeep Commander. Carnaby flashed a badge indicating he was a CIA agent but would not let officers examine it, and had a red and blue strobe light on his dash. He eventually fled the scene before officers, who had been convinced he was impersonating a federal officer, could issue him a citation.

However, Carnaby's vehicle soon ran out of gas and when officers approached his vehicle a second time, he ignored their orders to exit the car. One officer broke out the passenger-side window with a baton. As Carnaby emerged he dropped the cell phone he was using to confer with an FBI agent, according to the lawsuit. When he bent down to pick it up, two officers shot at him saying they believed the object to be a handgun.
Procedure not followed?

Feldman said officers were reacting to Carnaby's bending down, contrary to what he was told. "They knew he was licensed to carry a handgun, and in fact, there were three guns found in his car," he said.

The elapsed time between the time Carnaby stopped a second time and his shooting was 92 seconds, Kallinen said, adding that officers should have stayed back and waited him out.

"When the vehicles stopped, they should have got behind vehicles for cover, and called him on out with the bullhorn. They should not have rushed him at all, or bashed in the side of the window. That's the problem,“ said Kallinen, adding the squad car's sirens were blaring, making it hard to understand the officer's instructions.

Kallinen said Houston police records show officers who violate the high-risk approach policy receive little punishment, if at all, and do not get re-training. Susan Carnaby's lawsuit asks not only for damages, but for an injunction to force HPD to improve training.

"When the vehicles stopped, they should have got behind vehicles for cover, and called him on out with the bullhorn. They should not have rushed him at all, or bashed in the side of the window. That's the problem,“ said Kallinen, adding the squad car's sirens were blaring, making it hard to understand the officer's instructions.