Travis County District Attorney releases indictment documents against 19 APD officers

After announcing the indictment of Austin Police officers on Thursday, Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza released the documents detailing the charges on Tuesday. These charges are related to protesters who were hurt in the 2020 George Floyd protests. In total, Garza charged 18 of the 19 officers each with two counts of aggravated assault by a public servant. Officer Kyle Felton was charged with both counts for two protesters who were hurt. The documents, themselves, did not contain too many details other than the specific charges for each of the officers, as well as the name of the protester who was injured by a specific officer.

They do detail why the officers were each charged with two counts instead of just one. The first count is for actually injuring the protester, while the second count was for threatening to injure the protester. In the time since Garza's announcement, critics of the officers' actions have praised the district attorney for pursuing these charges. “I think many of us were relieved to see something happen because the city had totally failed to provide any accountability for officer conduct during the protests," said Austin Justice Coalition Policy Director Chris Harris. "Too many of those protests, including here, were met with violence from police." Justin Howell and Anthony Evans, who settled with the City of Austin for a combined $10 million in their lawsuits for their injuries, were both listed in these indictment documents. One protester was listed in nine documents. CBS Austin reached out to Garza's office to ask why this was the case, and they provided the following statement: