AUSTIN, Texas — Austin police officials have suspended the use of "less lethal shotguns" that left multiple protesters injured in 2020 and recently raised new questions about their use on a 15-year-old girl who was not armed or suspected of a crime.
The move comes after Travis County District Attorney José Garza sent Police Chief Joseph Chacon a memo on July 28 in which he said prosecutors would not present the case involving the youth to a grand jury because it did not result in serious injury.
However, he said it is possible the incident could have resulted in charges of official oppression, assault or official oppression against the officers.
Garza said instead, he wanted to engage police and the City of Austin in a dialogue about the use of the weapons, which generally fire what police have called "bean bag rounds."
"It is the expectation of the TCDAO that the city will use this incident as an opportunity to examine and address its training and policies governing the use of shotguns with modified munitions," Garza wrote.
According to his memo and a civil lawsuit filed by the girl's family, police were attempting to serve an arrest warrant for her brother, who was a suspect in a shooting.
New body camera video obtained by the KVUE Defenders shows the seconds that led officers to use the weapons on the girl, and their own statements about why they said they fired.
When they arrived, they ordered everyone out of the house, including the 15-year-old girl, who was not armed of accused of any crime. She was half-dressed when the incident happened, which is why she was covered in the body camera video edited by the District Attorney's Office.
The girl was exiting the home when the suit said she turned around, while walking backward, to prevent a fall. That's when police used the round, striking her in the thigh, the documents said.
The evidence suggests "a grand jury could have reasonably concluded that officers may have opted to shoot [the teen] with the shotgun containing a modified munition because the minor was slow to comply with directions to put down her cellphone and not because they were justified to do so under the law," Garza wrote.
In the statements of four officers obtained by the KVUE Defenders, police said they used the weapon on the girl because she would not obey their commands to put her phone down. One officer wrote that she continued to put her hands behind her back and manipulate her waistband and had "unknown intentions."
But one officer wrote that from his vantage point, he could see she was trying to put her phone in her waistband.
Robin Henderson, chief of staff for Chacon, wrote in a bulletin to the police department on Friday that the suspension of the weapons' use could be lifted following more conversations with Garza and prosecutors.
The weapons left more than a dozen people injured during the 2020 protests, and Austin police said at the time that they would no longer use them for crowd control.
Nineteen police officers were indicted on multiple charges following the protests. Most of the cases are still pending.
Additionally, the City has settled lawsuits with injured protesters for nearly $19 million.