AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lashed out Wednesday at the local prosecutor in his state’s capital, floating the possibility of clemency to 19 Austin police officers indicted for tactics used against during 2020 demonstrations against racial injustice.
Abbott, a Republican, alluded to the local police union’s assertion that charging the officers was a “political sham” in his first public statement on the indictments, including against two officers involved in injury cases that the city has offered to pay millions of dollars to settle.
“In Austin, law enforcement officers defended the state Capitol from criminal assault, protected the Austin Police Department headquarters from being overrun, cleared the interstate from being shut down, and disrupted criminal activity in areas across the city,” Abbott said. “Many officers were physically attacked while protecting Austin. Those officers should be praised for their efforts, not prosecuted.”
The governor’s statement did not mention demonstrators who were hurt, including some critically.
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza’s campaign promised to take a tougher stance on police accountability, but he has denied that the charges are driven by politics.
Austin, like many cities throughout the U.S., saw massive protests following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. But 19 indictments ranks among the most charges on a single police department in the nation over officers actions during the widespread protests. Those methods led to the resignation or ouster of several police chiefs across the country.
The indictments against the Austin officers were made public Tuesday by Garza’s office after prosecutors announced last week that a grand jury had decided the officers should face first-degree felonies. Grand juries do their work in private.
All of the officers are charged with aggravated assault by a public servant over the injuries of a total of 10 people.
Source : yahoo
