AUSTIN -- An Austin police officer who hit a woman's car in a marked cruiser and left the scene has been suspended for 90 days, and a supervisor has also been suspended after failing to investigate thoroughly, police records state.
Police say Officer Ryan Hancock was on his way to a crash on MoPac Boulevard on Dec. 9, 2014 when he struck a woman's car in the 1100 block of West 15th Street near Lamar Boulevard. She called 911 to report what happened.
Memos from Austin police say Hancock's supervisors, including a sergeant, lieutenant and commander, all "failed to conduct a thorough investigation, and failed to properly address the potential criminal conduct."
Police Chief Art Acevedo suspended Hancock for 90 days without pay, the most an officer can get without being fired. His commander, David Mahoney, has been suspended 10 days. Both suspensions were effective June 6.
A memo says, "The neglect of duty by Commander Mahoney is more egregious in that it was his responsibility as commander to ensure that his subordinates conducted a thorough and complete investigation of this incident, which did not occur."
Two of Hancock's other supervisors are named in the memos, but it isn't known as of Monday evening if they were punished.
Austin Police Union President Ken Casaday sent an email to the entire department Monday evening taking issue with the punishment.
Casady said the crash was minor, that Officer Hancock was in an emergency state-of-mind when he hit the woman's car and called the discipline unnecessarily harsh.
Officer Hancock's dash camera caught what happened. KVUE is working to get the video from the incident.
