Shooting victim seeks review
Veteran Gene Vela says officers didn’t properly ID selves.
Gene Vela, the Marine veteran at the center of a 2013 officer-involved shooting, asked the Office of the Police Monitor on Monday to recommend Austin police to conduct an independent review of the incident.
Vela addressed the panel of citizen volunteers during their monthly meeting Monday, in which they invited the public to participate in their review of the case involving the former Marine.
On Nov. 10, 2013, two Austin police officers responding to a welfare call at Vela’s Central Austin apartment shot at him three times after Vela pointed a loaded Glock at them.
A Travis County grand jury declined last month to issue any charges against the officers involved in the shooting, Adrien Chopin and Leonardo Cardenas. In March, Vela was found not guilty of aggravated assault charges after his defense attorneys argued the veteran was experiencing a severe episode of post-traumatic stress disorder and that the officers didn’t properly identify themselves.
Attendance at Monday’s meeting was sparse. Three Austin police officers sat quietly in the back while Vela, his attorney Edmund “Skip” Davis and a representative from the police watchdog group Peaceful Streets addressed the review panel.
Davis made an impassioned request for the panel to recommend a police review of the shooting. He said that police officers did not identify themselves before shooting Vela, who thought his home was under attack.
“APD has a set of rules,” Davis said. “They did not follow them the night they shot this guy.”
Vela told the panel members that he did not know the men at his door were police officers until after they shot him 40 minutes after they arrived.
“They were the only two mental health officers on scene that night and they were used for their sniper capabilities instead of trying to get a hold of me,” Vela said. “They were both too eager to start firing their weapons.”
Davis said that the incident highlighted problems in police dealings with those in mental health crises.
“People who suffer from mental health issues are citizens just like you and I,” Davis said. “They are entitled to fair and humane treatment.”
After the public meeting, the review panel went back into closed session to discuss the shooting. Police Monitor Margo Frasier said that they will consider sending their recommendation — which could include suggesting policy changes or disciplinary actions for the officers involved — to police in the next week.
The police monitor meeting happened one day after two people were killed by police officers in separate incidents. Those cases were not addressed in Monday’s panel.