Police union critical of settlement

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A letter from Austin Police Association President Wayne Vincent strongly encourages the mayor and members of the City Council not to approve a settlement agreement in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Nathaniel Sanders II .

Representatives for the city and the Sanders family recently announced they had reached a $750,000 settlement in the case. That settlement must be approved by the mayor and city council.

Council member Sheryl Cole said she has not decided how she will vote in this case and said she is still listening to community input.

"In this case, the problem or issue that we're dealing with is: Do we take a gamble with taxpayer money with a jury trial and with the potential for a loss of community trust between law enforcement officials and certain members of our community?" said Cole.

Payment of any settlement would come out of the city's Liability Reserve Fund . Every city department contributes to the fund which stands right now at $4.5 million.

In a letter addressed to the mayor and city council, Vincent strongly urges them not to approve the settlement.

"The moment this ill advised settlement is finalized, there will be a permanent impression that the City of Austin admits this shooting was unjustified and that Officer Quintana alone was responsible for the death of this young man," wrote Vincent.

Cole said a settlement would not be an admission of guilt by the city.

"We never want to send a message to our law enforcement officials that we do not value them or that we do not have confidence in them. Our potential settlement of this lawsuit does not mean that," she said.

A vote on whether to approve the settlement will take place at the July 29 council meeting. The vote does not have to be unanimous, just a majority.

Since 2002, there have been five high-profile officer-involved shootings, including that of Sanders.

Each involved a civil lawsuit. Judges ruled in favor of the city in the lawsuits filed on behalf of the families of Sophia King and Jesse Owens.

But the city settled both cases brought by the families of Daniel Rocha and Kevin Brown - out of court - for $1 million each.

Below is a statement Council Member Mike Martinez released late Monday night:  

The Austin City Council will consider a settlement of the Nathaniel Sanders shooting case on July 29th, 2010. The decision -- whether or not to settle this case and pay the Sanders family $750,000, is not one I take lightly. In fact, it is a decision we should all contemplate for some time. As I have thought about this incident and how it impacts our city, I have decided to share my thoughts for further debate and discuss prior to our potential vote that I believe is critical.

What comes to mind follows:

Is the decision to settle the case simply to put the Sanders shooting behind us? By settling this suit, are we saying our grand jury, office of the police monitor and the citizens review panel have failed the community? If so, do we need to revisit our review process? Has this community altering incident been vetted enough -- both in the courts and in the community at large?  If we chose to reject the settlement and go to court, is it proper for the city attorney to represent the City in this case?

As a council member, the task of making tough decisions and facing criticism for those decisions is a daily occurrence. No matter what we decide next week, the decision is certain to have its supporters and its objectors, but that does not preclude us from taking the time necessary to make decisions we feel are best for the citizens we represent.

On a regular basis, this council hires consultants to help reach decisions on various projects, issues and subjects. Hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of dollars a year is what, you, the taxpayer, fund to help our staff and this council make decisions. Many of these expenditures are met with criticism and outright disagreement. We often hear feedback, such as, "why do you need a consultant to tell you what seems like common sense?" The fact of the matter is that many of our decisions are not common sense by any stretch of the imagination. We have a tremendously diverse and engaged population that demands representation, but in the end, council must make a decision...and stand by that decision.

In my opinion, there is no need for more consultation in this case.  We have already spent taxpayer dollars on staff time, legal hours and an outside review surrounding this incident. The information and evidence, thus far, has been presented through the process available to us.

Mistakes and poor decisions were made on every side of this issue -- all of which are debatable and have been discussed and debated for over a year now.

This incident happened in my neighborhood, right around the corner from our home.

While I will not pretend to believe I know what it was like to have been Nate Sanders or to be an Austin Police Department officer patrolling my neighborhood,

I can say with certainty that I know the community and neighborhood that I live in, is a far cry from what so many in this town believe it is.

Yes, in East Austin we have families, go to church, walk our dogs, play with our kids in the streets, etc., but there is something more in East Austin (and all over Austin) that is rarely if ever mentioned, discussed or debated. And that is the lost and the voiceless in our community.

East Austin has changed for the better over time, and so many people have worked in our community, tirelessly, to make that change happen. But incidents like this, in many ways, takes us right back to square one, making us feel there is little hope for change.

We ask ourselves...Why attend neighborhood meetings? Why get involved in the schools? Why give extra effort by volunteering in my community? Why try to build a relationship with my neighborhood police officer? And maybe most of all....Why vote?

And the answer I hear the most is...It doesn't change anything!

Each and every day our police officers do all they can to protect and defend our community. It is not a job I would want, but it is a job I truly respect. It is not easy to be a police officer in Austin, Texas. There is so much more to this case that is even beyond a council decision. We also have a community decision upon us.

It is time we recommit to truly teaching our community how to avoid such a tragic outcome. We must educate our citizens on the consequences of dangerous behavior.  We must focus our policing on prevention and compliance as much as we do on enforcement.

This council has made it clear we want everyone (immigrant, homeless, rich, poor, black, white and anyone else) to feel they are a part of our community and safe. We must demonstrate how we achieve this through example, commitment, and action.

While many parents already do this...as I do; it's much bigger than our individual families. It's about our community. If we don't act as a community, we will fail as a community.

Settling a law suit for $750,000 will not take one small step in that direction. Nor will it address the serious issues we face, such as, drop out rates, gang and drug violence, the East vs. West divide, etc.

After much thought, it is my belief we should reject the settlement offer recommended by staff.

In our country one of the more public and honored means of settling these matters is a public trial. This would be a civil trial in a federal court. The civil trial uses legal standards of "preponderance of evidence" or "clear and convincing evidence" rather than the criminal trial's, "beyond a reasonable doubt". These rules of a civil trial permit a broader set of information being available for the court and the public. Such a trial would fully vet all of the information that bears on those events that culminated on May 11, 2009 as well as actions that followed.

The City should hire an outside lawyer not connected by previous actions of APD, its internal affairs department, the city administration, the Police Review Board, the Key Point review or the Travis County District Attorney's offices.  Perhaps more money would be spent than the proposed settlement. That is not the question. The proposed settlement leaves too many questions unanswered. It serves to close off examination rather than promoting understanding.

The question is to get all of the facts in a proper forum and that is what a federal civil trial will do. I think that direction would move the community toward hearing all of the facts and advance the goal of understanding how to prevent future occurrences. I, for one, plan to take that information and engage our community so we can have the truly meaningful conversations that will lead to a place of healing. Settling this case does not get us any closer to that place, and I do not think it is prudent to debate the issue without addressing the larger issues at hand that are much more vital to this community. 
 

Below is the entire letter from Vincent to the mayor and City Council:

Dear Mayor,

On behalf of the 1600 men and women who provide law enforcement services to our community, I would like to express deep concerns over the contemplated settlement between the City of Austin and the Sanders family. We were all taken by surprise in learning this surrender was being considered. Before you render a decision in this matter, allow me to address in detail what we believe will be the unintended result of such a settlement.

The moment this ill advised settlement is finalized, there will be a permanent impression that the City of Austin admits this shooting was unjustified and that Officer Quintana alone was responsible for the death of this young man. Nothing could be further from the truth, and any reasonable person knowledgeable about the facts would agree. No amount of clauses within the agreement prohibiting assumptions of guilt is going to change the fact that the community will take from this an admission that the