Judge seals Sanders shooting report

AUSTIN (KXAN) -  

A federal judge has sealed a taxpayer-funded independent investigation into the shooting death of Nathaniel Sanders II, killed by Austin police last May.

 

The 18-year-old was shot and killed by APD officer Leonardo Quintana, who was later reprimanded for not using his police dashboard camera, but was cleared of any wrongdoing in shooting Sanders. Sanders' parents have filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Austin and Quintana.

Now an independent investigation commissioned by the city - at a cost of $50,000 to taxpayers - will be largely shrouded by the judge's order.

Federal Judge Sam Sparks agreed with the city's argument that "unsubstantiated allegations" in the report should not be made public. A city attorney told Austin News that in their view, they are only following state law that protects civil service employees. The Texas Attorney General's office also supported the city's argument.

In the entire 133-page report, which outlines the strengths and weaknesses behind APD policy leading up to the shooting and the subsequently internal investigation of it, there are only 28 pages that have not been partially or completely redacted. The public will not find out what was hidden after a judge on Tuesday granted the city's request for a protective order against allowing the redacted information to be revealed.

"They are hiding something, there's no doubt about it,” said Jim Harrington, Director of Texas Civil Rights Project.

Neither the Office of the Police Monitor, Chief Art Acevedo or City Manager Marc Ott would go on camera - but Assistant City Attorney Cary Grace released this statement:

"The Texas Attorney General agreed with the city's argument that the information concerning unsubstantiated allegations in the Key Stone report and internal affairs investigation is confidential.”

With page after page blanked out, Jim Harrington with the Texas Civil Rights Project said there can only be one reason.

"The police department is trying to protect itself from scrutiny. That's what this is about,” said Harrington.

The Austin Police Department has made changes to how it conducts internal investigations since the shooting, and Acevedo released this statement: “Protective Orders are commonly issued in litigation and we have no additional comment to make.”

The City commissioned the report after the Office of the Police Monitor ordered an independent investigation into the internal investigation and the shooting.

What we do know from the Key Point Government Solutions report is that they did find bias in the APD shooting investigation.

Harrington says what is blanked out because of the protective order has to be much more revealing.

"To see the city and the judge hiding this information from the public that we've paid $50,000 for in tax payer money I think is almost outrageous,” said Harrington.

Sanders' parents are alleging in the lawsuit that "APD's policymakers ratified and approved Quintana's misconduct… APD has long tolerated the unconstitutional conduct by officers and the disproportionate uses of force against minorities."

These are claims which, Austin civil rights leaders say, have been long-time issues. They say the protective order signed by federal Judge Sparks chips away at the claims of transparency the City of Austin and its police department have made.

"This raises a lot of doubt about the integrity of both the investigation and what the police have been doing,” said Harrington.

After KXAN informed Harrington about the protective order he said Texas Civil Rights Project will file a lawsuit with the state in an effort to get the full report released.