Fired officer fights to get job back

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Former Austin police detective Chris Dunn's arbitration hearing -- to reclaim his job after the Nathaniel Sanders' shooting -- could take up to week to cover all testimony, which will include Chief Art Acevedo and Dunn himself.

The department fired Det. Chris Dunn back in November for bias in the internal affairs investigation of officer Leonardo Quintana surrounding the Nathaniel Sanders shooting last May. Chief Art Acevedo called Dunn "damaged goods."

According to testimony, Dunn sent out an e-mail about the Sanders' shooting. It read, in part, "We can make (them) a causation of the entire event. I'm so smart I scare myself. Thoughts?"

The concern stemmed from the fact that the detective was also an internal affairs investigator in the officer-involved shooting of Sanders, who was 18 years old.

An independent investigation into the officer-involved shooting also cited parts of the APD investigation were biased towards officers.

The email, also talked about looking into Sanders and Smiths' criminal history after the two were shot by Quintana.

"The email was embarrassing but in itself does not make bias in the investigation," said Wayne Vincent, President of the Austin Police Association. "We're anxious that Chris Dunn and his attorney are finally able to tell the story which I think is going to show the actual investigation was conducted in a thorough manner."

Dunn is scheduled to be the last to testify.

Not only did Lt. Mark Spangler say Sergeant Dunn failed to ask obvious questions, but asked leading questions and gave Officer Leo Quintana unfair insight.

"There were several instances in here where new information was given to Quintana that he would not have had except for the form of the question," testified Lt. Spangler.

Once the hearing is transcribed the hearing examiner has up to 30 days to decide whether Dunn can have his job back.

Since the shooting, APD has changed its internal affairs investigation policy - making sergeants the lead investigators instead of detectives.

Meanwhile, the Sanders' family civil suit is scheduled to go to trial in July in Federal Court.