This weekend marks one year since thousands of protesters flooded the streets in downtown Austin and demanded a series of law-and-order reforms and budget changes, some of which they ended up getting.
While the local demonstrations mirrored racial justice protests in other cities after the death of George Floyd under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020, local participants also had Austin-specific reasons to be there, as they pointed to concerns they d been voicing for years about the Austin Police Department.
Bubbling with anger and viewing the moment as a vehicle for transformation, they persuaded the City Council to change the Police Department s budget by cutting $21 million outright and setting aside an additional $129 million to be vetted for potential cuts down the road. Since then, $45 million of that larger amount has been cut by moving various departments and functions out of police control.
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Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, seen here in 2017, announced Wednesday that his prosecutors will now ask judges to require high-risk offenders to surrender any weapons as a condition of their bond.
Prosecutors with the Travis County District Attorney’s office on Wednesday will begin asking judges to require that some offenders release and surrender firearms as a condition of their bond.
District Attorney José Garza said prosecutors will make the request for people at high-risk of reoffending to ensure they “don t have access to a firearm while their case is pending, or while they are on community supervision.”
A grand jury will consider whether criminal charges should be brought against a driver who shot and killed a man during a Black Lives Matter protest last summer, the Travis County district attorney s office announced Friday.
Daniel Perry shot Garrett Foster, 28, in July 2020 an act that Perry s attorney said was in self-defense. Foster was carrying an assault-style rifle, which is legal in Texas under open carry laws, and approached the car after Perry drove down Congress Avenue where protesters were walking. Perry drew his own weapon and shot Foster, according to police.
Austin police later detained Perry, but did not arrest him.
Christopher Taylor is accused in the April 24 shooting death of Michael Ramos
Footage released last year shows Ramos had announced he was unarmed and had his hands above his head before he was shot dead in Austin
Taylor turned himself in after a warrant for his arrest was issued Wednesday
He was released on bond Thursday after it had been set at $100,000
Officer Mitchell Pieper had deployed a beanbag impact at Ramos, prompting him to try and drive away; Taylor then shot into Ramos vehicle three times