Family protests Quintana no-bill

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The family of Nathaniel Sanders intends to file a complaint with the federal government's civil-rights department to  protest the Travis County grand jury's decision to no-bill Officer Leonardo Quintana this week.

Sanders, 19, was shot and killed by Quintana on May 11. His family already has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. Family attorney Adam Loewy on Thursday also promised to pursue an investigation of the process that led to the Travis County grand jury decision to no-bill the veteran Austin police officer.

Loewy intends to file a complaint with the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. He also will request the federal prosecutor for the Western District of Texas come in and review the evidence.

In a presentation of a timeline of the events the night Sanders died, Loewy noted that the audiotape of the event indicated only seven seconds passed between the time Quintana opened the door of the station wagon where an intoxicated Sanders was sleeping to the time he noted Sanders had a gun and fired his first shot. Loewy also pointed out that Quintana never appears to announce himself as a police officer.

"You do not hear Officer Quintana say 'Wake up, police, wake up, APD.' Officer Quintana never identified himself that night," said Loewy.

Loewy also questioned Quintana's action of running away from the car and starting to fire the gun. He called it "bad police work" and questioned how Sanders was a threat to Quintana when it was clear the first shot was fired into the back of Sanders' head.

"You have an officer who is running and shooting his weapon as he is running and keep in mind it is going to be undisputed that seven seconds earlier, Nate Sanders was asleep," said Loewy.

Loewy said toxicology results which show cocaine, marijuana, and xanax in Sanders' bloodstream, bolster the argument that Sanders was in an intoxicated sleep and did not pose a threat to Officer Quintana.

Loewy said the Department of Justice should once again be focused on the Austin Police Department's use of force.

"I believe this is one of the worst police shootings in the entire history of the city of Austin," said Loewy.

After a four year investigation into APD's use of force policies, the Department of Justice, in 2008, made a list of more than 100 policy change recommendations for the police department.

"I believe the Chief has a duty to this community to explain if it is proper for a police officer to be running away from a car shooting a gun like he was in the wild, wild west," said Loewy.

The department's administrative investigation will be complete next week. It will detail whether Officer Quintana violated any department policies or procedures.