17 Austin police officer indictments related to May 2020 protests dismissed; DOJ review requested

17 APD officer indictments dismissed

In addition to the dismissals, the Travis County District Attorney's Office and the City of Austin have requested the Justice Department review the Austin Police Department's actions during the 2020 protests.

AUSTIN, Texas - The Travis County District Attorney's Office will be dismissing 17 indictments against Austin police officers in connection to the May 2020 protests.

The DA's office says once the indictments are dismissed, those officers will be able to return to their full duties. Four officers remain under indictment and the DA's office will be moving forward with prosecution.

In addition to dismissing those indictments, the DA's office has submitted a joint letter with the City of Austin to the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division requesting a review of APD's actions during the 2020 protests.

"No parent should fear that if their child chooses to voice their First Amendment right to assemble peacefully, they will walk away with serious bodily injury caused by the very person called upon to protect them," said DA José Garza. "We expect the Department of Justice will take our request seriously, and we look forward to working with Mayor Watson, Interim APD Chief Robin Henderson, and City Council to ensure full cooperation with the DOJ investigation. We will also continue to hold law enforcement who break the law accountable."

In May 2020, Austin police officers used "less lethal" bean bag rounds to control crowds and protect property during protests following the deaths of George Floyd and Mike Ramos. Numerous protestors reported injuries due to those rounds.

A Travis County grand jury later returned felony indictments against more than 20 officers for their use of force.

Austin surgeons shocked by injuries protesters sustained by bean bag rounds

Over a span of two days in late May, Dell Seton Medical Center treated 19 protesters with severe injuries.

Since the protests, the city says it and APD have implemented many policy and procedure changes, such as:

Discontinuing the use of 12 gauge "bean bag" less lethal shotgun munitions on patrol and for crowd management
Applying consistent enforcement during large crowd events to maintain crowd safety and management during challenging situations
Increasing the emphasis and training for de-escalation in all situations
Prioritizing community engagement efforts with a focus on active engagement and problem-solving

According to the DOJ letter, the city of Austin has also paid out more than $18 million to resolve civil lawsuits related to the protests. Eight civil suits remain pending.

Doug O'Connell and Ken Ervin represent the officers.

"We weren't surprised. We've been anticipating this from the very beginning of the case. This case was political from the outset," O'Connell said. "We said very, very early on that this might constitute a viable civil lawsuit against the city based on the degraded and out-of-date ammunition, the less lethal beanbag shotgun rounds. This was never a criminal case and never should have been indicted."

"A lot of disappointment, mostly on behalf of the victims," said Chris Harris, with the Austin Justice Coalition. "I hope that there's some accountability that occurs."

Of the four officers still being prosecuted, O'Connell and Ervin are representing two of them.

"We were expecting in about 10 days to hopefully get a January trial date for two of them. We think that effort in trying to push these cases to trial probably resulted in them getting dismissed maybe sooner than the DA's office had planned," Ervin said.

"For two years, these families have lost everything, reputation, time," Charley Wilkison with Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas said.

"This announcement, particularly with the request for the DOJ, you know, really reflects the failure of our local institutions to combat police violence and brutality," Harris said.

Austin Crime and Public Safety