Austin Sanders

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.

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.

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

City May Face Trial Over APD “Culture of Impunity” in Misconduct Investigations Federal judge sides with plaintiffs in key pre-trial rulings

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...

Ptiman's opinion is not without precedent, even in Austin, but it is extraordinary. You can read the full document here. t.co/AMVNB8orGa

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.

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

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.

City May Face Trial Over APD “Culture of Impunity” in Misconduct Investigations Federal judge sides with plaintiffs in key pre-trial rulings

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...

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.

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/...

Seriously?? Good for them. Long overdue policy change.

My HEB has taken a stand against dog culture run amok.

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...

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.

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.

As City Starts Opening Secret Police Misconduct File, New Contract Could Seal It Back Up Meanwhile, lawsuit reveals more ways city keeps info secret

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...

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.

Texas Law Would Make Law Enforcement Misconduct Records More Secretive New law would create “G file” for all state law enforcement agencies

The secret police misconduct file known as the G file could be coming to a town near you, whether you want it or not.

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...

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.

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.

"The consequences of that kind of uncertainty could be dire," Mollica said. "It's just cruel."

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."

"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."

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.

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.

"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."

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.

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.