19 Officers Indicted as Austin Police Department Becomes Infamous Nationally

     The Trump DOJ's recommendation of harsh penalties for Black Lives Matter protestors in 2020 is paying dividends for several reasons. During the course of the summer, when tens of millions of Americans protested racial injustice, a total of 300 were arrested by the Department of Justice. These were not good people: all 300 were charged with serious crimes like arson, weapons possession, and assaulting police. The DOJ recommended decades-long prison sentences for people it accused of violating at least eight federal statutes related to rioting and property damage. When the Capitol insurrection occurred, the Biden DOJ got evidence of apparent bipartisan support for harshly punishing rioters and violent criminals who damage property with the memo from Trump's DOJ: they even charged those who made it into the Senate chamber with 20-year felonies whether they committed violent or destructive acts or not. That's the sole felony charge Jacob Chansley got a 41-month sentence for after pleading guilty. 800 have been arrested, of whom at least 500 are facing felony charges.

     Not only did this memo come in handy for prosecuting the Capitol insurrection, but for prosecuting cops during the George Floyd protests, as well. While Trump called himself the "ally of peaceful protestors," the reality looked more like when he violently cleared a square of peaceful protestors for a photo op with the Bible, when he defended Buffalo officers who were fired for beating up a man in his 70s, and when he called on the military to be summoned to perform violent acts against protestors, even more violent than when he encouraged his supporters to knock the crap out of rallygoers or to storm the U.S. Capitol.

     Looking at what happened during any riots that occurred in the summer 2020, it was more a war than an assault on police. Just three weeks ago, I highlighted the sentencing of a Kentucky officer for clubbing a man who was kneeling with his hands behind his head during a protest over the homicide of Breonna Taylor, and hundreds of officers are under investigation for their conduct against protestors. 

     The Austin Police Department has already been in hot water. In March 2021, three officers were arrested on felony charges of manslaughter and evidence tampering after killing 40-year-old Javier Ambler II, a black man who did not stop after they attempted to pull him over for failing to dim his headlights. This case was especially notable because Live PD filmed Ambler as he shouted, "I can't breathe" and then destroyed the tapes at the request of police; this would ultimately lead to the show's cancellation in June 2020.

     Now, 19 police officers have been indicted for brutality against protestors during the summer of 2020, bringing the total number of department officers indicted in just over a year to 22. (That doesn't include numerous other arrests that have been made for crimes officers committed unrelated to their jobs.) These officers reportedly shot nonviolent protestors with bean bag rounds, causing serious injuries. One man received a traumatic brain injury and was awarded eight million dollars while another received a broken jaw and was awarded two million dollars. These officers have claimed that they did not know that the nonlethal rounds would cause such injuries, did not intentionally cause them, and even that the guns malfunctioned. A beanbag round is a heavy object shot at people: its entire purpose is to inflict trauma to the point of breaking bones. Officers have also tried to pull the same lame claim that officers in Kentucky and numerous other places have tried: that officers were stressed from crowd control and having urine and feces thrown at them. That's probably true, but that's no excuse: if someone has been raped, that doesn't give them a free pass to kill or maim people of the same gender as the rapist and then pull the "trauma" card.

     The chief has said he couldn't find anything done by his officers that "amounted to criminal conduct." Well, all 19 will have their day in court, but right now they are charged with aggravated assault, a felony crime that carries up to 20 years in prison, and have been placed on administrative leave. The names and details have not been released, but one person has admitted that they are among the officers charged: Justin Berry, a candidate for the Texas House of Representatives. He has claimed that the charge is politically motivated and that the DA in Austin is funded by George Soros without providing a shred of evidence to back up either claim. It was just days earlier that the two civil suits aforementioned were settled, and hundreds of protestors have sued alleging police brutality that could cost Austin hundreds of millions of dollars.

     February 2022 has been the biggest month of racial reckoning since May 2020, from the trials and/or sentencing of Kim Potter; Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane; the McMichaels and Roddie Bryan; and others as well as the killing of Amir Locke; the attempted lynching of Demonterrio Gibson; and literally dozens of other instances of racially-motivated crimes and other actions. Make no mistake: this sweep of indictments is a major step forward in the fight to hold police accountable.