By Tony Plohetski, Isadora Vail and Juan Castillo
Austin American-Statesman
AUSTIN, Texas — A day after an Austin police officer fatally shot a man and wounded another, Police Chief Art Acevedo said detectives were moving swiftly to learn what happened and said he hopes the investigation will be finished within three months.
“My goal is to complete this process in 60 to 90 days, and not drag it out for six months, which has been the case in the past,” Acevedo said. “When it’s all done, we will report back to the community.”
The announcement came on a day in which some community leaders continued raising questions about police credibility with the confirmation that a second officer at the shooting did not have a patrol car camera recording the incident.
It also came amid questions about why the body of 18-year-old Nathaniel Sanders II lay at the scene for nearly six hours, further inflaming an already distraught crowd, according to some community leaders.
Acevedo said two of the three Austin police officers at the fatal shooting did not have patrol car cameras rolling at the scene.
He had previously confirmed that the camera in the patrol car of Officer Leonardo Quintana, who fatally shot Sanders and wounded Sir Lawrence Smith, 21, was not running. Acevedo said “significant portions” of the incident were recorded by a camera in the third police cruiser.
According to department policy, officers are required to record all traffic and pedestrian stops, sobriety tests and pursuits. The policy says the videos are crucial to investigations and provide an “unbiased recording” of events.
Acevedo said Tuesday that supervisors routinely perform videotape audits to determine how frequently officers are following the policy.
The department Tuesday did not respond to a request about how frequently officers are disciplined for violating such rules.
Acevedo said he would like to upgrade video technology in patrol cars to ensure that cameras are always activated.
“We have a very antiquated system in that we use a VHS system,” Acevedo said. “We are looking for funding to upgrade our technology. If we had digital technology, then the camera would be rolling all the time, and we wouldn’t have this malfunction or problem.”
Police Monitor Cliff Brown, who is responsible for reviewing police shootings and making disciplinary recommendations to Acevedo, said he is concerned that more cameras did not capture the incident.
“That could be the best evidence in a case like this that could certainly give light on what happened,” Brown said. “In most cases, it is going to be beneficial to not only the community, but also to the officer.”
Bobby Taylor, an attorney representing Smith, said he also is “very bothered” by the lack of videotaped evidence.
“How can an officer approach a vehicle, which he believed had felons in it, with his gun drawn, and not have his camera on?” Taylor said. “I just want to know the officer’s excuse.”
The 5 a.m. shooting Monday began when Quintana, an Austin police officer for more than eight years, started investigating whether a champagne-colored Mercedez-Benz in the parking lot of an East Austin apartment complex was linked to a series of gunfire reports.
Acevedo has said that Quintana saw the station wagon in the parking lot of the Walnut Creek apartments at 6409 Springdale Road.
He detained the driver without incident while two more officers arrived at the scene, he said.
Acevedo has said that Quintana then approached Sanders, who was asleep in the back, and that Sanders reached toward a gun at his waist. At that point, Quintana opened fire on Sanders, Acevedo said.
Smith, who was in the front seat, lunged at Quintana, who shot and wounded Smith, Acevedo said.
Smith, who was released Tuesday from University Medical Center at Brackenridge, has not been charged with a crime, his attorney said. It was not known whether the driver was charged with a crime.
Tom Stribling, who is representing Quintana, did not return calls seeking comment.
Several experts in police tactics said Tuesday that many of Quintana’s actions appear to be within standard police practice, including waking a sleeping person.
Greg Meyer, a former captain with the Los Angeles Police Department who now works as a use-of-force consultant and expert witness, said officers are generally safest when they engage in a high-risk encounter with backup.
“This guy might have had some burning, compelling reason to do what he did,” Meyer said.
He said investigators also likely will seek to determine what was in Quintana’s mind when he fired, including what danger he perceived and whether other officers would have responded similarly.
Acevedo said he is concerned about how long Sander’s body was at the scene and estimated that it was 51/2 hours.
Officials with the medical examiner’s office said they would not release information about the shooting or their response, including what time they were summoned or when they arrived, citing a request from investigators.
Acevedo said he had not yet received a specific timeline of the series of events, including how long investigators gathered evidence at the scene and what time they summoned the medical examiner’s office.
However, he said, officials with the medical examiner’s office kept moving back their estimated arrival time in 10 minute increments.
“We need to do better, and I’m not putting the blame on anyone,” Acevedo said. “When we take a life, we have to be thorough in the investigation, but we have to be respectful of the community and those who are deceased.”
The body was uncovered for about three hours awaiting the arrival of officials from the medical examiner’s office, law enforcement officials said, before police covered it with a blanket, which police officials said is not typical protocol.
Personnel from the medical examiner’s office arrived about two hours later.
“The fact that body is out in the open so long, all it does is create additional problems,” said Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
“People at the scene said that was a major issue,” he said. “It was critical. We’re going to have to figure out how the county and the city can’t get a body properly moved from the scene.”
Linder continued to urge calm among residents, saying that they should wait to form opinions until learning the facts of the case. A handful of protesters marched outside police headquarters Tuesday.
Linder said tempers that had flared after the shooting had begun easing Tuesday.
“Today is more acceptance than anger,” he said. “We’re more into an acceptance mode that something bad happened here, so how do we go forward?”
Copyright 2009 Austin American-Statesman