Activists Descend On City Hall To Protest Cop's Killing Of Unarmed Black Teen [UPDATES]

AUSTIN, TX -- Several social justice activists descended upon City Hall Thursday to protest the killing of an unarmed black teenager by police earlier this week.

“We’re here to bring awareness to this issue,” said Chas Moore, co-founder of the Austin Justice Coalition. We want people to know that Austin is not the liberal haven it pretends to be. We have issues here in Utopia.”

He and others made their voices heard starting at 9 a.m. outside city chambers, where council members staged their regular meeting. Inside, several of the protesters sat among the audience gathered to hear items on the council agenda, bearing signs of protest demanding justice for the dead youth.

“We think the officer should be fired and criminally charged,” he said when asked what his ultimate aim was in calling for justice.

On Feb. 8, Austin Police Department officer Geoffrey Freeman killed David Joseph, 17, fatally shooting him twice. He had responded to reports from residents saying a man was roaming the neighborhood acting erratically.

One there, Freeman (who also is African American) said he encountered a naked Joseph. The officer claims the youth charged at him, ignoring his commands to stop. Freeman shot the unarmed teen twice within seconds of their confrontation, mortally wounding him.

Since the fatal shooting, many have questioned the officer’s actions: His use of lethal measures rather than the standard-issue Taser he had on his possession; why the teen’s nakedness while outdoors wasn’t seen as denoting a mental health breakdown rather than criminality; the reason a gun was fired within mere seconds of the officer making the scene.

In a previous press conference earlier in the week, a police spokesman said dash-cam video of the incident exists, but the portion showing the actual shooting was out of frame. Protesters also wonder why the footage -- however incomplete -- hasn’t yet been released.

While protesters gathered, APD Chief Art Acevedo staged a press conference at police headquarters a few blocks away to assure a full investigation would take place. At his side were some of the same protesters who had spent the day outside City Hall, including Moore.

The press conference represented the first time Acevedo had spoken publicly about the incident. He provided a timeline of events that lead up to the fatal confrontation:

• On Feb. 7, a call was made reporting that Joseph allegedly tried to coax a female neighbor to meet him across the street, an invitation she refused. As two other neighbors approached, Acevedo said he told the other residents they should “watch yourself now.”
• Feb. 8 at 6:30 a.m., a woman calls the non-emergency police line to report a male suspect wearing nothing but jeans and a T-shirt, despite the cold weather.
• The same day, at 9:21 a.m. a resident calls police to report a male suspect clad in a dark sweatsuit walking behind a fence line.
• Minutes later on Feb. 8, a 911 call is placed regarding the same sighting.
• At 9:28 a.m., Freeman is dispatched to the scene.
• Freeman arrives at the scene at 9:37 a.m.
• 9:50 a.m., Freeman calls headquarters to report he was unable to find the suspect.
• 9:57 a.m, an apartment complex manager calls to report a male suspect chasing a male resident
• 10:23 a.m., Freeman spots a naked Joseph at Waterfall and Nature’s Bend as he approaches the area in his patrol car.
• Minutes later, on Feb. 8, Freeman stops his car at 10:25 a.m. as Joseph begins to turn around and, Acevedo said. Freeman fires his gun, but the killing is out of camera view, Acevedo said.

After providing the timeline, Acevedo commended the activists for the respectful tones of their protest even amid their anger and outrage.

He noted officers are sometimes targeted elsewhere in the country after civilians are killed, helped along by forceful rhetorical condemnation by protesters. But Austin stands as a model of police-civilian cooperation, Acevedo said.

“There is a collective responsibility to work with each other to make things better,” Acevedo said. “What makes Austin special is -- we don’t go around advertising it -- but we have been working with these young activists for a year-and-a-half ever since the Kleinert-Larry Jackson incident, and there’s some good things going on in our city that have to stand as a model.”

Acevedo referred to another officer-involved shooting on July 2013, when former APD officer Charles Kleinert came across Larry Jackson who was allegedly trying to withdraw money from another person’s account. After some conversation between the two as seen on surveillance video, a struggle ensued.

Jackson, an African American, was shot in the back of the neck during the struggle. Kleinert was eventually cleared of manslaughter charges and has since retired from the force.

The city subsequently settled resulting lawsuits for nearly $2 million, the bulk of which went to Jackson’s children.

At Thursday’s press conference, Acevedo urged for the same level of cooperation in the latest incident involving a police shooting.

But with Joseph’s death just a few days before still fresh on their minds and with their emotions still raw, activists interviewed voiced their hopes for more immediate action. Those expressions ran the gamut from Moore’s call for criminal prosecution to others content to voice their solidarity in support of fellow justice seekers.

At the police headquarters press conference, a local Black Lives Matter activist said while she appreciated Acevedo’s attentiveness to their concerns, they would still hold him to account.

“We appreciate the acknowledgement from Chief Acevedo that there was a problem in how David Joseph was killed,” said Kenya Mason. “We as Black Lives Matter believe actions speak louder than words. So it’s my responsibility that we hold him accountable.

“We are very excited he is listening to us, but we will be holding him accountable.”

Back outside City Hall, Andrea Blount said she took time off from her day -- traveling from outside the county where she lives -- to offer solidarity to activists.

But she also was guided by thoughts of her 9-year-old daughter, who attends school in Austin.

“I’m here because this is the community where my child goes to school and where my child plays outside. as long as it’s tolerated and even justified for officers to start killing unarmed children, that means that my child could very well become the next victim.”

Along with fellow protesters, her presence represented the goal of bringing about a change in the perceived police culture, she said: “I’m here to make sure that something happens to effect positive change.”

Clifford Gilliiard, a member of The Austin Justice Coalition, took some solace in seeing council members -- including Mayor Steve Adler -- join them outside in a show of support during an adjournment in their municipal proceedings.

“i think we have achieved a lot by just getting the whole council to adjourn their meeting and go outside and mingle with the protesters,” Gilliard said. “So I think we were able to achieve a whole lot today. Having said that, actions speak louder than words.”

At police headquarters, Acevedo appealed for calm as protesters starting to mobilize outside City Hall for another round of loud chants calling for justice at passing motorists during the afternoon rush hour.

“We have a common goal,” the chief of police said. “And that is good policing, safety for police officers, a safe community, and, more importantly, peace.”

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From Feb. 10:

AUSTIN, TX — The black teenager fatally shot by an Austin police officer Monday morning after a confrontation was unarmed, law enforcement officials confirmed in a Tuesday afternoon press conference.

The dead teenager -- who was 17 years old, not 18, as originally disclosed -- was identified as David Joseph.

Police also identified the officer who did the shooting as Geoffrey Freeman, a veteran of the force who joined its ranks in 2005.

Police reiterated at Tuesday’s press conference they had received multiple calls around 10 a.m. of a naked black male acting erratically in the 1200 block of Nature’s Bend in the northeast part of the city.

The responding officer said in a subsequent statement that he directed commands to Joseph, but the young man failed to comply. Officer Freeman claims Joseph then charged at him even while the officer ordered him to stop.

After again asking Joseph to stop, Joseph reportedly failed to comply and was shot by the officer. Joseph was transported to a Round Rock hospital for treatment of his wounds, but died a short time later.

“All of our officer-involved shootings are tragedies,” Austin Police Chief of Staff Brian Manley noted during the press conference.

But when asked if Joseph was known to officers as perhaps having had a history of mental illness -- his lack of clothes at the time of the incident a possible indicator of some mental health issues -- Manley declined to comment.

“Now is not the day,” he told the reporter asking the question.

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This latest officer-involved shooting is certain to reignite a dialogue about what many see as a disproportionate number of such incidents in Austin.

Last year alone, there were three instances of an APD shooting a suspect dead in a span of just one week.

Last July, an Austin police officer killed a 62-year-old man during a foot chase in southwest Austin after reports the suspect had been following a woman on the street. The police officer said the man had reached into his waistband for a weapon.

Days before that incident, Austin police officers were involved in a shootout at the downtown Austin Omni Hotel that left a gunman dead. That same morning, police officers shot a man dead at a North Austin house after they said a suicidal man pointed a gun at them.

In June 2004, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) lodged a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice for the perceived level of disproportionate officer shootings. The federal department provided the local police force with 165 recommendations outlining areas of improvement.

The APD said at the time they had implemented most of the recommendations.

The death of Joseph this week also adds another grim statistic related to the number of unarmed suspects shot by police. In recent years, several unarmed suspects have been shot by police, including: Daniel Rocha, 18, shot in the back during a 2005 confrontation with police in southeast Austin; Bryon Carter, 20, shot four times in 2011 while sitting in a car in East Austin; and Kevin Brown, 25, shot twice in the back near an East Austin nightclub.

In this week’s shooting police said an investigation into the matter would continue. Part of that investigation involves studying the part of the confrontation captured on a patrol car’s dash camera.

Officer Freeman also was expected later this week to give a lengthier account of the events that led to his shooting Joseph.

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From Feb. 8:

AUSTIN, TX -- A man shot by police Monday morning has died of his injuries, according to media reports.

Police responded to an apartment complex in the 300 block of East Yager Lane late Monday morning after calls were made about a suspicious man roaming the neighborhood, police said.

Callers said an aggressive man had been roaming the area around the 12000 block of Natures Bend, located in the northeast part of the city.

After reaching the scene shortly before 10 a.m., police found the nude suspect in the street.

in a spontaneously staged press conference near the site of the shooting, police told reporters the naked suspect charged at an officer before being shot.

The critically injured suspect was taken to Round Rock Medical Center for treatment of critical injuries, where he died a short time later. He was surprised as an 18-year-old black male.

A spokesman at a news briefing near the site declined to say whether the man killed by police was armed.

“I’m not going to speculate whether this individual was armed or not,” Austin police Chief of Staff Brian Manley told reporters. “That will all be a part of the ongoing investigation.”

Manley also didn’t release the name of either the officer involved in the incident or the suspect. The officer was described as an APD veteran with more than 10 years on the job.

The officer was placed on administrative leave immediately following the incident, which is customary practice after officer-involved shootings.

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From earlier, Feb. 8:

AUSTIN, TX -- Police are responding to an officer-involved shooting in northeast Austin.

Law enforcement officials responded to a call of a shooting in the 300 block of East Yager Lane at about 10:40 a.m., KVUE-TV reports.

Police urge people to avoid the areas of Yager, Tech Ridge and Canyon Boulevard for the time being.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, a patient was transported to Round Rock Medical Center with critical injuries.

However, reports indicates no police officers were injured as a result of the incident.