Spencer:
I'm stumped. There is overwhelming support for new leadership over APD, yet you dug your heels in. Your backing Manley means you are backing his so many wrongdoings during his tenure, including the literal war crimes he committed upon Austinites.
If you didn't read my long and growing list of reasons why Manley MUST go, please, PLEASE do today.
Perhaps you dispute some, or many of these reasons.
Even if you dismiss the 10 other critical incidents that should have resulted in 14 officers' firings; even if you take out all the ones where witness testimony disputes officer's versions or the several that should have definitely been handled with less lethal force, esp. two small women, one of which had just crawled out from crashing her car into a light pole (Salazar & Rankin)...it is absolutely indisputable from witness video that Taylor should have been fired - as well as Pieper for shooting bean bag rounds while Ramos' hands were up (not complying with verbal orders is not justification for that level of force, by law, by policy).
And it should be asked of YOU: have you seen any/all of this video the public was long ago promised in critical incidents but has not seen? If Manley had not broken this policy over and over, then we'd all be clear which ones were indisputably WRONG.
It's also VERY clear Wall should have been fired, not just suspended, for not only NOT patting down a suspect (properly or at all/whatever) before putting him in his squad car, but for making fun of him when he relayed he was suicidal. As much as any shooting of an unarmed person posing no threat, THIS DEATH IS COMPLETELY ON APD. And you since you back Manley, therefore Wall...it's on you.
Even if you dismiss all those, how can you dismiss the officers not being fired that initially lied about Parish firing on them? (Did he even raise his gun to them? We'll never know). When the community interviewed APD chief candidates in 2007, that was our #1 question. "Will you fire an officer for lying (esp. in a critical incident)?" Acevedo answered yes. You didn't give us a chance to have Manley commit to that - but it's POLICY.
Even if you dismissed ALL those avoidable deaths...there's still all the many 100s of officers that fired on protestors that bloody weekend - cinching our status as one of the top USA PD's that routinely violate human rights. How about the officer that did the knee on neck chokehold? NOT fired. No one WILL be fired, as APD's only investigating just a handful of incidents from that weekend and Manley already said he "didn't know of any policy violations." (REALLY???) Many other US PD chiefs fired officers within 24 hours of such abuses. It's been over three weeks.
EVEN if you dismiss ALL THAT, there's still 25 reasons to boot him-- a few of which - ON THEIR OWN - should have been reason enough like the many policy violations; the blocking of an external investigation and his lies: like in the Ramos report to the AG (2nd bullet), and if you believe what he told you last week during the Public Safety Committee meeting, that EMS never informed him ALL WEEKEND of the many injuries - well, I got some land in Florida.
....And IF what he said was true, then shouldn't both he and Rodriguez be fired for not doing their jobs; seeking/relaying critical public safety information across entities?
Good gawdess, Spencer. What WILL it take to make you see this is completely beyond an untenable situation?
Please. Act. Now.
A "stern talking to" AIN'T cutting it.
Things WON'T be different this time.
LEAVE HIM!
Debbie Russell
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