Sandy MaloneAustin, TX – A Travis County grand jury indicted 19 Austin police officers for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for their actions in the line of duty during the George Floyd riots in 2020, but the police chief and the city manager have argued no criminal charges were warranted.
Critics have accused Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza of having made it his mission to make an example by criminally charging as many police officers as possible, The Washington Post reported.
“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 told reporters when he announced the indictments. “There cannot be trust if there is no accountability when law enforcement breaks the law.”
Garza refused to reveal details of the specific indictments, the Associated Press reported.
The names of all of the indicted officers have not yet been released, in accordance with a Texas law that prohibits it until after an officer has been arrested.
Austin Police Officer Justin Berry revealed that he was one of the officers who had been charged, FOX News reported.
Officer Berry is running for Texas House District 19, located just west of Austin.
“This has nothing to do with justice, has nothing do with any wrongdoing,” he told FOX News. “This is simply about politics and a political agenda that has taken place with these radical liberal district attorneys.”
Officer Berry said he and the other officers acted lawfully in their attempt to stop the violent riots as rioters threw frozen water bottles and other projectiles at them.
The candidate said the Travis County district attorney was using the indictments to strip local law enforcement of the power to enforce the law, FOX News reported.
“This simply about politics and a political agenda that is taking place with these radical liberal district attorneys,” Officer Berry said. “If they can’t defund us and get rid of us that way—now they’re going to try and de-police us by sending us to prison and indicting us.”
Officer Berry was charged with aggravated assault by a public servant.
The crime is a first-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, FOX News reported.
Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon said he respected the grand jury process but was “extremely disappointed” by Garza’s announcement, the Associated Press reported.
Chief Chacon, who was not chief at the time of the Floyd protests, said commanders had prepared officers to face hundreds of demonstrators, but thousands of protesters showed up and turned the demonstrations into riots.
The police chief described the scene as “riotous and violent” at times, the Associated Press reported.
“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,” he told reporters at a press conference held after the indictments were announced.
Dozens of protesters sustained injuries from the less-lethal munitions used by Austin police during the riots, The Washington Post reported.
Chief Chacon said that some of the beanbag rounds did not always perform “in the manner anticipated” and so the police department has prohibited the use of “less lethal munitions in crowd-control situations” in the future, but he said his officers should not be held criminally liable for the results of using equipment they were provided, the Associated Press reported.
Police union officials blamed police department leadership, rather than the rank-and-file who were out battling rioters, for providing the defective munitions, The Washington Post reported.
The city of Austin recently settled lawsuits by two protesters who were injured for a combined $10 million.
One of the men had a fractured skull and the other had a fractured jaw, according to The Washington Post.
It wasn’t clear if any of the newly-charged officers were directly connected to either of the recently-settled cases.
Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk, a nonelected official who has more power than the mayor over local law enforcement, condemned the 19 indictments, The Washington Post reported.
“Any indictments will heighten the anxiety of our officers and will impact the staffing shortages we are experiencing,” Cronk said in a statement.
Holly Matkin
