After a grand jury successfully brought felony charges against more than 20 Austin police officers accused of assaulting George Floyd protesters, the Travis County District Attorney’s office in Texas made an interesting move.
In a social media post on Monday, José Garza’s office announced that it was not moving forward with charges against 17 of the officers, but it will prosecute four of the remaining officers.
While cops having their charges dropped despite allegations of abuse is nothing new, the story doesn’t end there. The district attorney’s office and the City of Austin submitted a joint letter to the Department of Justice urging them to review the Austin Police Department’s actions during the Summer of 2020.
“This has been a difficult chapter for Austin. I look forward to turning the page. These announcements will allow police officers, whose lives were upended by the indictments, to return to their services to our community,” said Austin Mayor Kirk Watson in a statement. “And the request for a targeted third-party performance review is meant to enhance transparency for our community and inform future actions as we continue our focus on building respect and trust for our police.”
Garza struck a very different tone in his public statement about the probe and dropping the indictments.
“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,” Garza said. “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.”
So far, the Justice Department has yet to respond to the letter publicly. But this wouldn’t be the first time it intervened to investigate police misconduct during the Summer of 2020.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department announced the conclusion of its investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department, finding that the department and the City of Minneapolis “engage in a pattern or practice of conduct in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal law.”
Time will tell if an outside intervention changes the department and whether the remaining officers whose charges weren’t dropped will see the inside of a courtroom.