AUSTIN, TX- It is truly a wonder why anyone would want to be a police officer these days, especially in Democrat-run jurisdictions. The New York Post reports that three hero police officers who stopped a likely terrorist at a bar in Austin may have to face a grand jury.
Texas attorney Doug O’Connell has been retained to represent the three officers, who, out of an abundance of caution for their safety, have not been identified, at the behest of the Austin Police Association.
On Sunday morning, a naturalized U.S. citizen who is a Senegalese national opened fire on patrons at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden, a popular hangout for college students, in Austin, Fox News Digital reports. Three patrons–Savitha Shan, 21, Jorge Pederson, 30, and Ryder Harrington, 19, were identified as the victims in the shooting, which also injured 14 others. The bar is located near the University of Texas.
Ndiaga Diagne, 53, from Pflugerville, Texas, opened fire from his car as he drove by the bar.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said Diagne “put his flashters on, rolled down his window, and began using a pistol, shooting out of his car windows, striking patrons of the bar that were on the patio and that were in front of the bar.”
While investigators claim his motive is unknown, Diagne was wearing clothing that suggested he was a Muslim and somehow motivated by the military action in Iran. His sweatshirt read, “Property of Allah.” Austin police officers arrived in less than a minute and shot and killed Diagne.
Now, those three hero officers, who likely saved an untold number of lives, may themselves be in legal jeopardy, although Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza denies that.
O’Connell told The Post that grand jury reviews of any police officer’s use of deadly force is required under a policy implemented by Garza after George Floyd’s overdose death that was blamed on excessive police use of force.
“The district attorney, at the direction of the Wren Collective, insists on presenting every officer involved shooting to a grand jury,” O’Connell said. The Wren Collective is described as a “shadowy and influential” left-wing criminal justice reform group based in Austin.
“We believe that our clients will face this same process,” O’Connell explained.
The policy was implemented by Garza in 2021 after he took office, only months after Floyd’s death, which sparked nationwide riots and states, cities, and towns implementing laws and policies to tie the hands of police officers.
O’ Connell said the grand jury process lacks transparency.
“Grand juries in Texas are secret, meaning only the prosecutors are in the room. The prosecutors control what evidence the grand jury sees, and they have no obligation to present exculpatory evidence,” he said.
“We know from other police prosecutions, this one-sided presentation is how the Travis County DA has obtained indictments in the past.
“Every time an officer has to confront a violent criminal, they may be indicted if the DA doesn’t like their actions,” O’Connell concluded.
As of Tuesday, the officers have not been charged, despite a viral tweet claiming they had.
“The DA has taken to bringing any officer-involved shooting case before a grand jury to determine if charges are warranted,” Austin Police Association’s spokesman Detective Christopher Irwin told The Post.
“As it stands right now, there are no pending charges against any officers.”
O’Connell refused to provide the names of the officers.
“Until we know more about the gunman and his ties, if any, to terrorism, I’m not going to put those officers in any further jeopardy,” he told The Post.
On Tuesday, Garza seemed to throw cold water on any notion his office would be seeking criminal charges against the officers, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
“These officers are heroes, and it should go without saying that my office is not seeking any charges and would not seek charges,” Garza said in a news release. “The accounts to the contrary are false, intentionally false, and are being peddled for obvious political purposes.”
The tweet posted to X said that Garza would bring criminal charges against the officers. The post gained a lot of attention from Texas Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott.
O’Connell was not satisfied with Garza’s statement. “His statement creates more questions than answers,” O’Connell told the American-Statesman. “If you don’t believe criminal charges are warranted, then what’s the point of presenting the case to [a] grand jury?” O’Connell said it takes months for prosecutors to present a police shooting case to a grand jury, and said this case probably wouldn’t be ready until fall. “The process leaves officers twisting for far too long,” he told the American-Statesman.
Comments