Austin Sanders
Journalist in Austin, TX covering City Hall, cops, housing, and local politics more generally. Currently writing for The Austin Chronicle.
- NEW: One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit brought against the City of Austin over a 2021 police shooting that a federal judge recently ruled could advance to trial has settled. But a trial could still happen later this year. www.austinchronicle.com/news/2025-04...
- The suit was brought ove a shooting that began w/a road rage incident between an off-duty Austin Police officer and Alex Gonzales, who was driving with his girlfriend, Jessica Arellano & their son. The officer shot Gonzales & Arellano; later, a different officer killed Gonzales
- Two sets of plaintiffs (Arellano and Gonzales' mother)sued the officers and the city. 3 weeks ago, a judge ruled that plaintiffs could take the city to trial over allegations that the Austin Police Department was to blame for the shooting for creating a "culture of impunity" among officers.
- City Council is set to approve the settlement with Arellano on May 8, per a filing submitted by her attorneys last week. If that happens, she will withdraw from the trial. However, the Gonzales plaintiffs can continue with a trial, which could be set within the next week or so.
- In rare decision, federal judge clears the way for City of Austin to face trial in civil lawsuit over 2021 fatal police shooting. The judge cites a "culture of impunity" at the Austin Police Department stemming from "deficient" misconduct investigations. www.austinchronicle.com/news/2025-04...
- Judge Robert Pitman's decision is a rare one in lawsuits brought over police shootings. Typically, only claims brought against individual officers succeed. But Pitman wrote that the city's Internal Affairs process could have resulted in this shooting and a jury should hear more.
- The plaintiffs produced key pieces of evidence that allowed them to overcome the steep legal hill that protects cities in these lawsuits. - 19 high profile police violence cases - independent investigations into APD's IA division - Testimony from three former APD chiefs
-
View full threadPtiman's opinion is not without precedent, even in Austin, but it is extraordinary. You can read the full document here. t.co/AMVNB8orGa
- Yesterday the Texas Senate approved a bill on a 24-6 vote that would allow the state to withhold sales tax revenue from cities for not cracking down on homeless encampments. capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/...
- Cities that don't clear out camps themselves will have to reimburse the Texas Department of Public Safety for doing it instead. Bill is in the House now.
- My HEB has taken a stand against dog culture run amok.
- Reposted by Austin SandersTX lawmakers and police unions are pushing legislation that could conceal records around police and jailer misconduct across the state, with the goal of reversing police oversight reforms that Austin voters resoundingly approved in 2023 boltsmag.org/austin-appro...
- The secret police misconduct file known as the G file could be coming to a town near you, whether you want it or not.
- For Austin, specifically, these bills would create an avenue for the Austin Police Department to regain the G file, which voters dismantled through a 2023 ballot initiative. A leader for the statewide police union in Texas accidentally let that one slip in a hearing on one of the bills.
- I've written so much about the G file and have thought a lot lately, though, about this story about three former Austin police chiefs deposed in a civil lawsuit where they more or less acknowledged the G file is bad for accountability and transparency. www.austinchronicle.com/news/2024-09...
-
View full threadKind of head-spinning to think that three entities outside of APD told the city that the G file was bad for transparency and accountability -- including the justice department! -- but the city just kept on using it. And now, after Austin voters finally took it away, lawmakers may give it right back.
- I am trying to get a sense of how The SAFE Alliance could be affected by the freeze. SAFE operates one of the three domestic violence shelters in Austin. Per a 2021 financial statement, SAFE received $7 million in federal grants, which was about 20% of their total program expense that year.
- here's the financial statement. Again, this is from 2021. Unsure what their financial situation looks like in 24-25, but I'm trying to find out. www.safeaustin.org/wp-content/u...
- Local impact of the white house order freezing grants to nonprofits remains unclear. But it could devastate local orgs providing shelter and services to homeless Austinites. Particularly The Other Ones Foundation, which operates the Esperanza Community in SE Austin that houses 100+ people.
- TOOF Exec Director Chris Baker said the memo is terrifying because most of his org's funding comes from federal agencies in one form or another. If the order goes into effect, it could prevent TOOF from paying the bills that keep the lights on at Esperanza.
- "Most of ours programs that fund housing and shelter have a genesis in some federal agency," Baker said. "Worst case scenario is we have to shut all of that down."
-
View full thread"The consequences of that kind of uncertainty could be dire," Mollica said. "It's just cruel."
- am i really gonna have to get down to dirty 6th at 2am to see what the scene is like with car traffic...
- I'm mid-30s, man.
- Reposted by Austin SandersMy partner works for a nonprofit serving formerly unhoused people and one of the hardest things is how significantly it's cut short the lifespan of the people they serve.
- A new report on homelessness in Austin found that living on the street can cut your life short by 20 years. www.austinchronicle.com/news/2025-01...
- A new report on homelessness in Austin found that living on the street can cut your life short by 20 years. www.austinchronicle.com/news/2025-01...
- What’s the Austin version of “bitch I’m from the LAnd, don’t say you hate LA when you don’t travel past the 10”?
- Don’t say you hate atx when you don’t travel east past Lamar
- Over on X, Austin's police union president posted a video where he speaks directly to the camera, with dramatic music playing in the background, declaring that Travis County's District Attorney because of this case. In the video, the president calls on officers to stop responding to 911 calls.
- It's a remarkable statement for a union boss to make publicly and really reflective of the kind of entitlement police union bosses, in particular, feel. I can't imagine any of the other local union leaders so publicly and dramatically calling on rank-and-file to stop doing a portion of their job.
- It's also incredible when you consider the five-year, $218 million labor contract the police union just signed with the city. Through that contract, Austin's City Council agreed to give officers a 28% raise over five years. Now, the police union president says officers should work less.
- Reposted by Austin SandersMaurice DeSilva's death shows how ATX cops respond to mental health crises like violent crimes www.texasobserver.org/mauris-desil... and also how APD fails to stop killer cops — the same officer who killed DeSilva then killed Mike Ramos less than a year later www.texasobserver.org/mike-ramos-a...
- Austin Police officer Christopher Taylor was sentenced to 2 years in prison yesterday for killing Mauris DeSilva in 2019. The reaction from law enforcement groups has been as expected — disappointment, outrage. An unfair process But these reactions skirt over major checks in the justice system.
- On the left is a statement from a pro-police group that is perceived in Austin politics to generally act in good faith. On the right is the statement from the statewide police union. And, well, it's what you'd expect a police union to say.
- both reactions overlook three critical pieces of the justice system that led to Taylor's sentence. 1. Taylor was indicted by a Grand Jury consisting of Travis County residents 2. He was convicted at trial by a Travis County jury 3. He ws sentenced by a judge elected by Travis county voters
-
View full threadHere's what the two-chiefs-ago chief said when grand juries indicted Austin Police officers for shooting protesters with lead-pellet rounds in 2020.
- Feels like this Dallas Morning News story is instructive for Austin journalists on how to incorporate G file materials into police coverage. It appears some of the records DMN reports on here would have been confidential in Austin if the G file was still in use. www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2...
- Unlike other Texas cities, Dallas PD has never used the G file.
