The Democratic District Attorney of Austin has indicted 19 officers from the Austin Police Department on felony assault charges, which further escalate tensions between the police and the city’s leadership.
In January 2022, Austin set a new record in homicides. This is on top of the record-breaking 89 that the city experienced in 2021. Since the beginning stages of the COVID pandemic in Texas, violent crime has been rising in Austin. This trend was accelerated by the unanimous vote of the Democrat-controlled Austin City Council to cut the Austin Police Department’s funding from $150 million, or about a quarter of its budget in August 2020.
These cuts led to a wave in retirements and departures at APD during 2021.
The violent riots were over by the time that Mayor Steve Adler and city council had cut APD’s budget. Police had already cleared the streets protesters had illegally occupied, but they were repeatedly attacked by large groups who threw rocks and bottles at them, and tried to storm police headquarters.
In other cities, such as Seattle or Minneapolis, police precincts were abandoned by their leaders and occupied by rioters. Austin police had stopped a section similar to Seattle’s CHOP/CHAZ forming in the Texas capital.
Jose Garza, an activist running for Travis County District attorney on the Democratic ticket in 2020. He ran on the platform of prosecuting officers and is continuing to do so. Indicating at least 25 officers within 14 months has been his record. Many of these were on charges that had already been investigated and cleared by APD and his predecessor. According to the KVUE report, Garza is also reducing or dismissing charges against accused offenders quickly. This was revealed by a local news investigation.
Critics say Garza has implemented policies that favor releasing indicted people rather than prosecuting them.
Fox News asked Garza to give a complete list of officers he had indicted last week. His office quickly provided a detailed report. Fox asked Garza if he was also keeping track of prosecutions for those who caused violence or property damage in the riots, which lasted more than two months. Garza’s office denied that it could.
Ismael Martinez, Travis County DA Public information officer, stated that he couldn’t answer the question and that we don’t keep any of our cases in that manner. Fox News was then informed. To get this information, you would have to make an open records request.
Garza hosted an unusual press conference on Thursday. He predicted that a number Austin police officers would face charges. Although he had already been indicted, he didn’t name or specify which officers he was referring to.
During the protests on May 30, 31 and 30, more than a dozen officers sustained injuries. According to department policy, some protesters were also hurt by beanbag rounds that officers used to restore order.
Fox News received the list of APD officers Garza indicted late Thursday night and the charges against them all. All 19 are facing first-degree felony charges, despite all of them having been cleared of any wrongdoing during the response to the riots. Justin Berry, a Republican candidate for the Texas House of Representatives, is currently in the middle of a primary race, raising questions about Garza’s timing.
The 2022 primary election is on Monday, February 14th. Early voting began Monday, February 14. The primary vote will take place March 1. At a press conference on Thursday, Austin Police Association President Ken Casaday raised the question of whether Garza timbered the preview he conducted on Thursday. He also mentioned that the charges he will be levying on an undisclosed date are political.
Casaday stated that “It’s an absolute shame, and it sickens my that DA Garza uses working officers as pawns for a political game chess,” during the press conference.
Fox News reviewed the complete list of 19 officers and found that all were facing multiple first-degree felony charges of aggravated assault by public servant. One of the indicted officers, Officer Justin Berry is currently running for the Texas State House of Representatives.
Both officers’ legal representatives and police union officials claimed that the beanbag rounds used in the suppression of the riot were less lethal than expected.
Fox News’ attorney Doug O’Connell stated that the department had issued these officers “old and deteriorated beanbag rounds”. “So instead of coming out with a soft beanbag, they came out with a hardened projectile…so there were rioters who were severely injured by these beanbags. It shouldn’t have happened but management is not to blame.”
O’Connell said that it was likely a case of personal injury. It doesn’t make officers’ actions illegal, or criminal.
According to KXAN , the Austin City Council approved two settlement agreements on Thursday with protesters who were hurt in the demonstrations.
A independent study has shown that APD has lost approximately 220 officers in comparison to the number of police officers needed for public safety in this rapidly-growing city of almost 1 million people.
Fox News’ Dennis Farris, president and CEO of the Austin Police Retired Officer’s Association, said Thursday that Garza was waging war on police officers.
Farris stated that Austin, Texas was the latest front in the country’s war against police. “These indictments have a strictly political nature, and this is the platform he ran on when running for district attorney. He knows that he will not be convicted of one officer in these cases by issuing these indictments.
According to a source familiar with the cases, he told Fox News that “This is the new War on Cops.” He also said that they were now facing serious charges against Garza, adding that they had once been subjected to armed ambushes in the streets.
Fox News reported Friday that Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General, said he was monitoring the case.
Paxton stated that “Texas’ Soros funded leftist DA Jose Garza attacks Austin Police for protecting me against the 2020 BLM riots.” We should stand up for those who defend us, not those who are guilty of crimes. Paxton said, “I stand in support for the cops Garza wants destroyed.” These officers are entitled to the presumption that they are innocent until proven guilty.
Nearly 50 APD officers who protested the indictments this weeks are back at work Friday. The 19 APD officers facing indictment and possibly lengthy court proceedings are also back at work Friday. Fox is told by a source that APD officers in the entire department are unsure how they will do their jobs.
