19 Austin officers indicted in probe of protest tactics
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas grand jury indicted 19 Austin police officers on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for their actions during 2020 protests over racial injustice that spread nationwide following the killing of George Floyd, according to people familiar with the matter.
Multiple people spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly. Austin Police Association President Ken Casaday confirmed 19 officers are facing charges but did not have details.
It ranks among the most indictments against a single police department in the U.S. over tactics used by officers during the widespread protests — methods that led to the resignation or ouster of several police chiefs across the country.
Word of the indictments came hours after Austin city leaders approved paying $10 million to two people injured by police in the protests, including a college student who suffered brain damage after an officer shot him with a beanbag round.
Combined, the charges and settlements amounted to conservative Texas’ liberal capital of 960,000 people taking some of its biggest actions as criticism still simmers over its handling of the protests, which increased pressure on thenPolice Chief Brian Manley to eventually step down.
Jose Garza, the district attorney for Travis County, which includes Austin, spoke to journalists about the grand jury investigation but gave no specifics about it, including how many officers are facing charges, and for what crimes.
“Our community is safer when our community trusts enforcement. When it believes law enforcement follows that law and protects the people who live here,” Garza said. “There cannot be trust if there is no accountability when law enforcement breaks the law.”
Prosecutors have not identified any of the officers facing charges. Texas law requires that an indictment remain secret until an officer has been arrested. Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, when committed by a public servant, could carry a sentence of up to life in prison.
Casaday, the president of the Austin Police Association, called the move “devastating” for law enforcement in the city, but also said he’s confident that no officer will be convicted. He criticized Garza, calling the investigation politically motivated.
“D.A. Garza ran on a platform to indict police officers and has not missed the opportunity to ruin lives and careers simply to fulfill a campaign promise,” Casaday said.
Garza said his office prosecutes anybody who causes harm “regardless of who causes it.”
Austin Chief of Police Joseph Chacon, who took the job after Manley left, said he respects the grand jury process but was “extremely disappointed” to hear the district attorney announce anticipated indictments of his officers.
Chacon stressed that his command staff had prepared officers to face hundreds of people when thousands actually showed up to protests that he said were at times “righteous and violent.”
“I am not aware of any conduct, that given the circumstances that the officers were working under, would rise to the level of a criminal violation by these officers,” Chacon said.
But beanbag rounds fired by officers did not always perform “in the manner anticipated,” Chacon said, and his agency now prohibits the use of “less lethal munitions in crowdcontrol situations.”
The settlements approved Thursday are among the largest paid to people who were injured by police across the U.S. during massive protests that followed Floyd’s death.