Cops suspended for dash-cam violations

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Two Austin Police Officers have been suspended for not properly using their in-car dash camera system. Corporal Randall Milstead and Officer Jerry Muhamet were both suspended for two days for the policy violation, which has been under close review following a fatal shooting in early May.

According to disciplinary memos obtained by KXAN using the Texas Public Information Act, Milstead didn’t use his dashboard camera when responding to a disturbance call early in the morning June 21. Officer Muhamet, according to a separate memo, was found by his higher-ups to have not used his dash camera when backing up fellow officers on July 31 during a public intoxication call.

APD has cracked down on the dashboard-camera policy after Senior Police Officer Leonardo Quintana shot and killed Nathaniel Sanders ,18, in the parking lot of the Walnut Creek apartments in East Austin. During that shooting, only one of the three police cars that responded had activated dash cameras.

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo is even considering changing the policy. Current policy requires officers to activate their cameras on traffic and pedestrian stops and during sobriety tests or pursuits. But Acevedo said the result of this policy review could require officers to turn on their cameras any time they approach or detain a suspect.

In the early morning hours of May 11, Quintana was responding to reports of shots fired several days earlier from a gold Mercedes. The officer did not activate his in car camera before approaching the vehicle Sanders was sleeping in. Officer Quintana claims he shot Sanders when the teenager reached for a gun.

Chief Acevedo has been outspoken about his department's need to go digital, meaning their in-car cameras would be rolling at all times.

"We're in a digital world and we're here using a VHS tape- that's a disservice to the police officers, it's a disservice to the public and I think at the end of the day its a disservice to the taxpayers," Chief Acevedo said during an interview on the subject in July.

An upgrade to the entire fleet would cost close to $8 million, which officials have said is not feasible while the city is already asking the department for cutbacks.

It's not the first time a police shooting without a dashboard camera resulted in disciplinary action. Daniel Rocha was shot to death in June 2005 during a fight with Austin police.

Officer Julie Schroeder did not activate her dash camera and was later fired from the force as a result of that shooting. The city eventually paid Rocha's family $1 million.

A grand jury has determined there was no criminal wrongdoing on the part of Officer Quintana. A citizen review panel with the Office of the Police Monitor has requested a third party review of the incident. That review is underway.

The Sanders family has filed a lawsuit against the city and the police department.