AUSTIN, Texas — On Thursday, the City of Austin announced two settlements worth a combined $10 million regarding two civil lawsuits involving police brutality victims named Justin Howell and Anthony Evans.
The City will pay $8 million to Justin Howell and $2 million to Anthony Evans. Howell's $8 million settlement marked the largest amount awarded for use-of-force cases in Austin's history.
Evans and Howell were both injured by police officers participating in demonstrations that lasted longer than a week back in May 2020. People protested outside the Austin Police Department (APD) headquarters following the deaths of Michael Ramos and George Floyd.
Previously, the largest amount the City had awarded in a use-of-force case was $3.25 million, back in 2017.
That year, Austin City Council approved the amount in a settlement to the family of 17-year-old David Joseph. Joseph was unarmed when he was shot and killed by APD Officer Geoffrey Freeman on Feb. 8, 2016, after Freeman responded to a disturbance call in northeast Austin.
Dash camera video showed Joseph charging at Freeman before he shot and killed the teen.
Freeman was fired in March by then-police chief Art Acevedo. He appealed, and the City paid him $35,000 in exchange for dropping the appeal and agreeing that he is no longer eligible to work fo ther APD.
To read more about the Joseph case, click here.
In addition to the Joseph case, the KVUE Defenders took a deeper look at the City's history of settlements in these police use-of-force cases.
In 2021, the City of Austin paid $2.25 million to the family of Jason Roque. Roque was a suicidal man who was shot and killed by an Austin police officer in 2017.
The Austin City Council voted to pay the settlement to Roque's parents in an almost unanimous vote. KVUE's media partners at the Austin-American Statesman reported that Councilmember Mackenzie Kelly voted against the settlement because she said the officer was cleared of wrongdoing in a separate criminal and internal investigation.
On May 2, 2017, officers were sent to a neighborhood where a man, Roque, was reportedly waving a gun around after attempting to commit suicide. The APD said at the time that they also received a call from a woman who said she had been in a verbal disturbance with her son, Roque.
When officers arrived, the APD said Roque refused to comply with their demands and started walking toward his mom. That's when officers shot him in defense of his mother, Austin's former police chief said.
Roque was taken to a hospital where he died. The officer involved, identified as James Harvel, had been with the department for almost 17 years at the time of the shooting.
To read more about this case, click here.
In 2016, the Austin City Council voted to give two separate settlements to the family of Larry Jackson Jr.: $1.25 million for his kids and $600,000 for his mom and his widow.
On July 26, 2013, police were investigating a robbery at Benchmark Bank in Central Austin. They said Jackson came to the bank and allegedly tried to cash a forged check. APD Detective Charles Kleinert approached Jackson and he ran. The two ended up under the Shoal Creek Bridge, where Kleinert said they got into a struggle. Jackson was shot in the back of the neck.
In November 2015, a judge dropped the manslaughter charges against Kleinert, ruling he was investigating a bank robbery and therefore was working in a federal capacity. Federal officers are immune to state prosecution in certain cases.
To read more about this case, click here.
In December 2008, the City of Austin paid the family of Daniel Rocha $1 million, according to Houston ABC affiliate KTRK.
KTRK reported that Rocha, 18, was shot on June 9, 2005, by Officer Julie Schroeder during a traffic stop. Rocha was a passenger in a vehicle that had just left a house that police had under surveillance because of suspected drug activity.
Schroeder had said that Rocha resisted arrest and she shot him once. She thought he took her Taser stun gun and was going to use it against her or Sgt. Don Doyle, who arrived moments after Schroeder. The Taser was later found on the pavement.
Schroeder was not indicted by a grand jury but was later fired by then-police chief Stan Knee. Knee also suspended Doyle for 28 days without pay for failing to properly use his patrol car video camera during the stop.
Kevin Brown
In November 2008, one month prior to the Rocha settlement, the City of Austin paid $1 million to the family of Kevin Alexander Brown. Brown was shot and killed by APD Officer Michael Olsen in June 2007 outside of Chesters nightclub in East Austin after a foot chase.
Olsen said Brown appeared to draw a gun. An autopsy showed he was shot twice in the back.
A grand jury declined to indict Olsen, who was later fired for the shooting.
In 2011, the City of Austin paid $750,000 to the family of Nathaniel Sanders. Sanders was killed by an APD officer in May 2009 in the parking lot of a southeast Austin apartment complex.
The shooting ignited a firestorm and public debate over police shootings. Sanders' family sued the officer who fired the fatal shot.
Instead of using staff attorneys, the city council voted to hire an outside attorney. The City eventually settled with the Sanders' family for $750,000. The outside attorney cost another $270,000.
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