New video shows altercation between APD officers, Elisha Wright in Downtown Austin
AUSTIN, Texas - Newly obtained video shows an additional angle of an altercation between Austin Police officers and 22-year-old Elisha Wright. The incident happened May 2022 on E. Sixth Street in Downtown Austin.
Austin police claim Wright punched an officer in the face moments before one of the viral videos starts rolling, but Wright’s attorney claims the punch did not happen and APD used excessive force.
HALO camera video from May, 1 2022, just before 2 a.m. on E. Sixth Street provides a third angle to a fight that took place.
The HALO camera video was taken the same night as video recorded by a bystander that went viral. The cell phone video shows APD officers striking and pinning down Wright before they took him into custody following the fight.
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FOX 7 Austin reached out to APD after the initial incident. They wrote to FOX 7 back in May claiming "Wright was one of the aggressors in this situation and hit an officer in the face with his fist." APD says that was not caught on the bystander cell phone video.
Wright's lawyer provided FOX 7 with the body-camera footage and claimed it proved Wright was not the aggressor in this incident.
Once again, APD doubled down in a second statement to FOX 7 still calling Wright the aggressor.
Almost 9 months later, FOX 7 Austin obtained a third angle of this incident coming from HALO cameras. On it, you can see a man, believed to be Wright, slide on his back and get up instantly.
The video shows Wright is pushed to the ground again and police run over to him. He jumps up, and it seems to show him throwing a punch before he is tackled by police. This is where the bystander video picks up.
FOX 7 reached out to Wright's attorney and asked if he believes the new HALO video shows the punch police claimed in their earlier statements. Justin Moore says this does not change his opinion.
"The newly surfaced HALO footage of Elisha Wright further confirms that APD officers who were on the scene not only assaulted Elisha without provocation, but that they also lied in their police report stating that Elisha assaulted an officer. The only thing that can be seen is Elisha protecting himself from further injury after being rabidly attacked by these officers," said Moore.
"This only reaffirms our plea to APD to terminate the employment of these officers, and to the Travis County DA to file criminal charges against the officers which include, but are not limited to, assault and filing a false police report against Elisha," Moore added.
Austin police also sent a statement:
"The APD officers involved were not put on restricted or administrative duty for this incident. We are aware of a short viral video depicting a portion of an incident that occurred on May 1, 2022, at approximately 1:50 a.m. in the 400 block of E 6th St.
This incident began when multiple APD officers in the area responded to a fight between four people, including Mr. Elisha Wright and his companion. The incident is captured more completely by body-worn camera video and other video. Officers attempted to de-escalate the situation but were unsuccessful, and Mr. Wright and his companion continued the altercation.
Officers observed that Mr. Wright and his companion were the aggressors and took steps to arrest them. Mr. Wright hit an officer in the face with his fist, causing an injury before officers could arrest Mr. Wright and his companion.
APD has conducted an internal review of this specific response to resistance and determined that it complies with state law and department policy."