Blacks Say String of Shootings Reflects Bias in Department
Associated Press
Austin, Texas -- In the heyday of the Jim Crow era, Austin leaders voted to create a “Negro District,” an area where the city would provide the black residents with housing, schools and parks, keeping them separate at low cost.
It created a cultural divide that some blacks say remains today -- one enflamed by a string of police shootings of black suspects in 2002 and 2003 that’s prompted weekly protests and civil rights investigations by the federal government.
They say the shootings exposed a racist underbelly grumbling beneath a city generally regarded as a progressive community.
“We talk a good case here, but we don’t carry through on the promise of a city that reflects all communities and cultures,” said the Rev. Sterling Lands II, leader of the Eastside Social Action Commission and pastor of Greater Calvary Baptist Church.
Police Chief Stan Knee defends his department and vows to improve its relations with minorities.
“We’ve had to rebuild some bridges,” Chief Knee said. “But we have construction well under way.”
Tensions peaked when the Austin American-Statesman ran a series of articles this year that reported that between 1998 and 2003, police were twice as likely to use force against blacks as against whites, and 25 percent more likely to use force against Hispanics than against whites. During that period, police used deadly force against 11 people. All but one were minorities.
“Those were the issues we had been screaming about, but nobody paid attention to them,” Mr. Lands said.
The U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and U.S. attorney’s office are conducting investigations to determine whether the shooting victims’ civil rights were violated.
On June 18, the NAACP filed a complaint with the Justice Department that outlined other alleged civil rights abuses by officers and requested that federal funds to the Austin Police Department be put on hold.
The first death came on June 11, 2002, when Sophia King, a mentally ill 23-year-old mother of two, was shot killed and by officer John Coffey as she allegedly threatened her apartment manager with a knife.
A year later, Jesse Lee Owens, 20, was shot five times at close range by Officer Scott Glasgow. Officer Glasgow said he was being dragged as Mr. Owens drove off while the officer tried to handcuff him.
In July 2003, about a month after Mr. Owens was killed, Travis County Sheriff’s Sgt. Gregory Truitt shot Lennon Johnson, 27, after he also apparently tried to escape an officer.
Internal investigations found Officer Coffey and Sgt. Truitt acted appropriately.
Officer Glasgow was indicted on a charge of criminally negligent homicide, but it was later dropped, angering blacks. Frustration grew when the police chief didn’t fire him, despite a review panel’s recommendation. Instead, Officer Glasgow was suspended for 90 days without pay. Jeffrey Thornton, a black 23-year-old sanitation worker and college student, was among those listed in the NAACP complaint. He said a white officer, Michael Olsen, slammed him onto the car’s hood and then the ground when Mr. Thornton made a comment about police using excessive force.
Officer Olsen was suspended for 60 days, and Mr. Thornton recently settled a lawsuit with the city for $31,000.
“The police are just a metaphor for the whole city,” said Austin NAACP chapter president Nelson Linder.
Chief Knee said he has worked to create more harmony between his department and minorities and has taken specific steps since the shootings. They include diversity training for officers, moving officers to community command posts, holding several community meetings and commissioning an audit of police training programs that is expected in July.
The department also has bought new stun guns and beanbag shotguns to give officers options other than deadly force to subdue suspects, although they still carry their lethal weapons, Chief Knee said.
Deadly force has not been used by an Austin police officer since Mr. Owens’ death, and in at least two recent incidents police used stun guns and beanbag shotguns to disarm suspects in potentially deadly situations, Chief Knee said.
Chief Knee said he will continue to work to “fix the damage that’s been done” and expects his officers to help him do that.
“If I can’t regain the trust of the entire community, people won’t have to ask me to resign,” he said.