After Travis County District Attorney José Garza decided on Monday to drop most of the indictments brought against police officers for their use of force during the May 2020 social justice protests, local leaders had mixed reactions to the news.
Cases were dismissed against 17 of 21 officers. José Garza and Mayor Kirk Watson have both called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Austin Police Department’s use-of-force tactics.
You can read more about the American-Statesman’s exclusive reporting here.
Austin police union president
Michael Bullock, the newly elected president of the Austin Police Association, praised the dismissal of the indictments. But he told the Statesman on Monday that if the city is calling on the federal government to review policies, he hopes it will evaluate the decisions made by executive staff within the Police Department rather than the actions of officers.
“It proves what we knew and believed all along — that during extremely difficult and challenging times, our officers acted within the law to protect this city and uphold their oath,” Bullock said. “I wish that all the cases were being dismissed, and we continue to stand with the remaining officers that have yet to have their day in court. This has all gone on long enough.”
More:Austin police officers facing assault charges tied to 2020 protests surrender to authorities
Austin Justice Coalition
Chris Harris, policy director for the Austin Justice Coalition, said this outcome highlights failures in the criminal justice system to hold police officers accountable, and that some of these issues could be fixed if the city implemented all aspects of Proposition A, which voters approved in May to expand civilian oversight of the Police Department.
“The district attorney here has been rare among district attorneys around the country in actually even trying to use the criminal legal system to hold officers to account,” Harris told the Statesman. “The DOJ request represents political theater designed to distract from the failure of our local institutions — not just the district attorney in the criminal legal system, but from the city as well.”
Lawyers representing some of the officers
Doug O’Connell, a local lawyer who represented nine of the officers who had their indictments dropped Monday, said this is the outcome that he predicted would happen back when the charges were announced.
“This fits Mr. Garza’s pattern and practice of indicting officers first and then investigating later,” O’Connell said. “We’ve understood for a very long time that the evidence in these cases doesn’t support indictments or convictions, and this was a political maneuver from the very beginning.”
O’Connell added that José Garza was “oblivious to the tremendous toll that his gamesmanship places on officers, their families, their careers, their finances” and called the requests for the Department of Justice to look into the department’s use of force “political theater.”
More:Travis DA faces uphill battle as he brings slew of use-of-force cases against officers
Ken Ervin, a lawyer who along with O’Connell was representing some of the officers whose cases were dropped, said José Garza was “saving face” by calling on the intervention of the federal government, suggesting that the “real reason” for the district attorney’s move was that the officers had never committed the crimes of which they were accused.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, interim City Manager Jesús Garza
A joint letter from Watson, Jesús Garza and José Garza to the assistant U.S. attorney general requests the Department of Justice conduct a “pattern-or-practice” investigation related to the Austin Police Department’s use of force for crowd-control purposes during the protests.
It is not clear whether federal officials will accept the invitation, expected to be sent this week.
The three also sent out a joint news release in which Watson said: “This has been a difficult chapter for Austin. I look forward to turning the page.
“These announcements will allow police officers, whose lives were upended by the indictments, to return to their services to our community,” Watson said.
Jesús Garza said in the news release that the city of Austin has implemented several policy and procedure changes since 2020.
“We welcome a review by the DOJ in that regard to ensure we are moving forward as a community and as a Police Department in the right direction,” Jesús Garza said.
Austin Police Department
Due to the pending indictments for some officers, Anna Sabana, strategic communication and community engagement manager for the Austin Police Department, told the Statesman the department would not be making a statement on the dropped indictments at this time.
Austin City Council Member Mackenzie Kelly
In a post on X, Kelly, who represents District 6, said she was relieved and pleased to learn of the decision.
“The profound sense of uncertainty has burdened these officers and their families,” Kelly said. “I sincerely look forward to supporting the return of these dedicated officers as the re-engage with the community.”
Austin City Council Member Leslie Pool
Pool, who represents District 7, said she supports the joint request for the independent review.
“I join the Mayor in urging that we focus on rebuilding respect and trust for our police,” Pool said in a statement.
The Statesman attempted to reach all City Council members for comment.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
