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Down a second floor hallway, behind a closed door, is where members of a Williamson County Grand Jury on Thursday made their decision. The No Bill clears the officers who had the deadly I-35 confrontation in Round Rock with Austin Bomber Mark Conditt.
In a phone interview, Austin Police Association President Ken Casaday told FOX 7 Austin he is not surprised the Grand Jury cleared all the officers involved. “I’m not sure that you can learn anything from this other than those officers were heroes for what they did, and no one in their right mind would indict those officers for what happened that day,” said Casaday.
This DPS helicopter video is believed to be one of several images viewed by the Grand Jury.
The video follows law enforcement units in the early morning hours of March 21st. On the southbound frontage road just before Hwy 79, authorities in vans can be seen boxing in a SUV driven by Conditt.
As officers approached, Conditt, with nowhere to go, made one last act of desperation. “Got an explosion, got an explosion inside the vehicle,” a helicopter crew member can be heard saying.
“These officers knew the subject could have had a bomb or multiple bombs in the car, and you saw what they did, they charge the vehicle to protect the community, and thank God those officers were on the right side of the vehicle because if they had gone on the driver side we probably would have had a dead officer,” said Casaday.
The DPS helicopter video is the first major release of evidence from the investigation.
There were several bombings, with two fatalities, linked to Conditt.
With the grand jury and internal police reviews now wrapping up Casaday warns some information may never come out. “We are hopeful that Chief Manley will release more information overtime, I know there is some stuff they don’t want to release, but the community wants them to ... the community actually wants to see , so that’s a total decision up to him and that’s the weight that’s on his shoulders,” said Casaday.
Some of the evidence that’s been withheld includes what is described as a rambling video post by Conditt. As well as information on how investigators used cell phone technology to locate him.
A motive for the attacks also has not been released.