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Austin Sanders

@austinsanders.bsky.social
1.2K followers 205 following 127 posts

Journalist in Austin, TX covering City Hall, cops, housing, and local politics more generally. Currently writing for The Austin Chronicle.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
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
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
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...
austinchronicle.com
City May Face Trial Over APD “Culture of Impunity” in Misconduct Investigations
Federal judge sides with plaintiffs in key pre-trial rulings
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Ptiman's opinion is not without precedent, even in Austin, but it is extraordinary. You can read the full document here. t.co/AMVNB8orGa
t.co
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25889183-arellano-msj-order1/
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Taking all of that evidence together, Pitman concluded that the city "had a practice of permitting excessive force by under-investigating and under-disciplining the majority of officers who engaged in excessive force" that a jury could conclude led to the fatal shooting.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
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
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
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...
austinchronicle.com
City May Face Trial Over APD “Culture of Impunity” in Misconduct Investigations
Federal judge sides with plaintiffs in key pre-trial rulings
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
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/...
capitol.texas.gov
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Seriously?? Good for them. Long overdue policy change.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
My HEB has taken a stand against dog culture run amok.
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Reposted by Austin Sanders
Michael Barajas @michaelbarajas.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
TX 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...
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Kind 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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
It is remarkable that even a single police chief was asked about disciplinary investigations while under oath, but even more so that three police chiefs were asked about them.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
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...
austinchronicle.com
As City Starts Opening Secret Police Misconduct File, New Contract Could Seal It Back Up
Meanwhile, lawsuit reveals more ways city keeps info secret
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
The secret police misconduct file known as the G file could be coming to a town near you, whether you want it or not.
austinchronicle.com
Texas Law Would Make Law Enforcement Misconduct Records More Secretive
New law would create “G file” for all state law enforcement agencies
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
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...
safeaustin.org
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
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.
safeaustin.org
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
part of what I'm struggling with in trying to report out local impact is figuring out who to even call because, as you point out, it seems like orgs providing every kind of social service could be impacted.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
"The consequences of that kind of uncertainty could be dire," Mollica said. "It's just cruel."
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Mollica also points to the potential chilling effect an order like this could have even if it's struck down in court. Service providers may be more reluctant to apply for federal grants, Mollica said, if "they feel like the rug can be pulled out from underneath them."
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
"This can quickly create cash flow problems for organizations trying to provide housing, shelter, and care to people on the streets," Mollica said. "It could become a huge problem."
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
That includes housing costs (like paying landlords who are renting apartments to people exiting homelessness or to maintain properties they run) and even outreach. Mollica says it's not a crisis yet bc orgs typically only seek reimbursement every few months. But it could quickly become one.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Matt Mollica, Exec Director of the Ending Community Homelessness Foundation (the agency that funnels federal money to homeless response orgs), says service providers are already locked out of the systems they use to draw down on payments. They are unable to reimbursed for aid they're administering.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
"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."
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
I'm mid-30s, man.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
am i really gonna have to get down to dirty 6th at 2am to see what the scene is like with car traffic...
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Reposted by Austin Sanders
Kit O'Connell (🏳️‍🌈Big & Bright Queerdo👽) @kitoconnell.com · 16/01/2025
My 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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
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...
austinchronicle.com
Living on the Streets Can Cut Your Life Short by 20 Years, New Report Finds
Community leaders say more housing and services will help
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Don’t say you hate atx when you don’t travel east past Lamar
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
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”?
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
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.
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Reposted by Austin Sanders
Michael Barajas @michaelbarajas.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Maurice 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...
texasobserver.org
Why Is APD Responding to Mental Health Crises like Violent Crimes?
Neuroscientist Mauris DeSilva died in July 2019. The same APD officer who shot Mike Ramos was involved in DeSilva's death.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Here's what the two-chiefs-ago chief said when grand juries indicted Austin Police officers for shooting protesters with lead-pellet rounds in 2020.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
The statement from Lisa Davis, Austin's new police chief, is much more restrained. I was kind of surprised, given that prior chiefs have not hesitated to publicly express their own disappointment at the criminal prosecution of police officers.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Both the CTPSC and CLEAT know this, of course. It's the same argument they would make for any other criminal defendant sentenced to prison. It's just that they're unaccustomed to police officers being held accountable in this way.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
So that's what the law enforcement groups are reacting with disappointment and outrage to — not just that a police officer was convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison for on-duty conduct, but that various aspects of the officer's community made those decisions.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
At 3 separate points in Taylor's journey through the justice system, representations of the community he served as a patrol officer rendered judgement on his conduct when he shot and killed DeSilva. At each point, those representations all agreed, to some extent, Taylor should have acted differently
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
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
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
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.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Unlike other Texas cities, Dallas PD has never used the G file.
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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
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...
dallasnews.com
Dallas cop who has been investigated multiple times turns himself in on misdemeanor charge
Officer Ali Toppa, 28, was detained Thursday by Irving police on a warrant out of Dallas.
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