AUSTIN, Texas —
The KVUE Defenders have obtained a confidential internal report with new information about what Austin Police Department (APD) officials knew about the "less-lethal ammunition" projectiles that injured more than a dozen people in the May 2020 protests in Austin.
This report was finalized in late 2023 — more than three-and-a-half years after the protests — just as prosecutors dropped all but four of 21 cases against officers. The report indicates that higher-ups in the department, reaching the command level, likely had information about the performance of the munitions, raised by mid-level supervisors.
Among them was APD Sgt. Steven Willis, who watched the unprecedented May 2020 protest's injuries to demonstrators. He told the department in an interview on Sept. 21, 2023, he was sick to his stomach because of images of injuries caused by the less-lethal rounds.
“I see people walking by holding injuries, bleeding and my first thought was, ‘Oh my god. We never changed the round,’" Willis said. "So then later, I see pictures of the rounds and the wounds that the emergency room doctors were pulling out of people, and like, it .. I just got sick.”
Several supervisors had grown concerned about the munitions by 2019. Then an incident in 2020 heightened concerns of what investigators called an “over-penetration” — meaning that the rounds caused more damage than they should.
Three-and-half years later, the report is raising new questions about what the department did and didn’t know about the performance of the munitions.
The report says, “There is evidence to believe that the Austin Police Department had knowledge, information and data, indicating there was a possible issue with the age, condition and accuracy of the 12 gauge less lethal round prior to and leading into the 2020 riots.”
It adds there was no official documentation or paper trail showing that APD command had knowledge of issues with the rounds but that, “based on witness statements, emails, photographs and other documents — it's reasonable to believe that staff brought these concerns to command verbally.”
The report also says, “This knowledge of potential deficiencies in performance and accuracy of 12 gauge less lethal munitions discovered by the APD training academy does not appear to have been disseminated to the department as a whole; or specifically to officers on patrol utilizing this equipment on a day to day basis.”
Will Mercado, a retired APD corporal who gained expertise in the rounds, said he “believed the conditions/age of the rounds was to account for critical incidents,” according to the report.
APD Chief of Staff Jeff Greenwalt sought the investigation “while familiarizing himself with the events that transpired” in preparation of civil depositions related to the protests and realized that not all information pertaining to the munitions had been gathered and shared with the Travis County District Attorney's Office, according to the report.
In a statement, APD said: “Due to the open and ongoing criminal cases being prosecuted by the Travis County District Attorney, APD is not able to provide any additional information.”
The Travis County District Attorney's office released this statement: "In September 2023, the District Attorney’s Office learned that APD would be investigating whether the department knew, prior to May 2020, that the weapons APD officers used during the protests were capable of causing and had caused serious injury. Like many in our community, our office is troubled both by the conclusions of this investigation as well as its timing."
Despite the new revelations, it is still unclear, years later, whether the rounds were defective. While the report highlights those concerns, it does not conclusively say that the munitions themselves led to these serious injuries.
An attorney the KVUE Defenders spoke with, who represented an injured protestor, said that he did not find evidence to base a claim against the manufacturer.
Meanwhile, Ken Ervin, who represents several officers indicted from the 2020 protests, released this statement:
"While this is undoubtedly an issue APD and the City of Austin will need to address, it is unjust and an abuse of power for DA Garza to continue keeping Officer Bretches and Officer Teng under indictment."