Formal Complaint: Obedience to Orders, Insubordination and other policy violations

OF
CITY
AUSTIN
OFFICE OF
NOTICE OF FORMAL
POLICE OVERSIGHT
COMPLAINT
ICMS #: 2020-0651
August 17, 2020
Complaint: The Office of Police Oversight received a complaint from
stating as
follows:
"An incident happened between my roommate and I
Case 20-
We had a heated argument and his response was to get less than an inch from
me and loom over me and get in my face. I tried to get around him and he would just
move in front of me, egging me on to be physically violent. I told him to move multiple
times but he wouldn't and I had to push past him (he probably told cops i shoved him,
which is ridiculous).
As I tried to move around him and put his dirty dishes in his room (we have had
MULTIPLE discussions about his lack of cleanliness as this is a lease violation and
causes roaches to infest the apartment -we have had both roaches and fleas infest our
apartment because of his unclean behavior) He retaliated by raising a huge, heavy, thick
glass pyrex Salad bowl over his head and slamming it down on the floor. The impact
caused the quarter inch thick glass to shatter into small pieces. If this wasn't a violent act,
this sturdy bowl should have broken into 2 or 3 pieces. Not a single piece was larger than
my thumb and there were hundreds of pieces everywhere. It caused damage to the
flooring and I'm still finding pieces of it all over the apartment. I have pictures and
evidence to this affect.
Once the police got here, he told them a sob story about ONE time, last December when
some friends of mine did cocaine. I did not. They did. We have since talked about it and
he expressed that he wasn't comfortable with it and I told him I appreciated him telling
me and we haven't had an issue since.
Every time we have an argument he brings this up and the officers who were here, heard
that story and immediately jumped on his side in his defense and treated me like I was an
unstable drug addict -since obviously I was upset that he tried to intimidate me.
Once they left he laughed at me and I remained silent and in my room.
I took a nap and woke up to him accusing me of turning off the power which he then
called the police for.
When they came back they threatened me with jail time for violence. Me. He's the one
damaging some pretty hefty property and leaving damage to the apartment. And calling
the cops because the power went out and blaming it on me.
This guy is unstable. He has an addiction to gaming and some serious pent up rage issues
when anything threatens his addiction.
The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the American Disabilities Act.
Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request.
OF
CITY
AUSTIN
OFFICE OF
NOTICE OF FORMAL
POLICE OVERSIGHT
COMPLAINT
When he gets upset, he blows up at me and emotionally abuses me with things he's been
keeping from me (he kept mentioning he has issues with me however I am unaware of
these because he never has any conversations with anyone.) Or he uses arguments that
have been resolved over and over when to my knowledge, it has been resolved. The most
communication we have is me reminding him to clean up after himself in the common
areas -this is not my job and being in quarantine with him for months has been a constant
issue of me reminding him to clean up after himself.
The officers never once told him (in my presence) that his violent behavior was not ok.
This did not make me feel safe. I have no idea if they inspected the trash can to see how
thick and tiny the glass shards are but I sure as hell took pictures of that.
When the officers arrived a second time, they accused me of many things and did not let
me speak up to defend myself. You should be able to see this on their body cameras.
Because I was SO shocked by their obviously biased opinions, and the way they spoke
over me and didn't let me speak, I wasn't able to set the record straight AND my
roommate now feels like his violent behavior is vindicated. I have text messages from my
roommate that prove this.
The male officer accused me of trying to make my roommate be extroverted -which is
absolutely untrue and I tried to defend myself against this but he talked over me.
They accused me of being the violent one and threatened me with jail time. All 4 cops in
the apartment were staring at me when this was said. It was ABSOLUTELY unfair and
made me feel extremely unsafe and not likely to ever call APD again,
The officers kept saying over and over that we are adults and we should be able to talk
about things and I responded by agreeing because I am an adult and can have reasonable
conversations. He is the one in arguments, instead of owning up to his bad behavior, he
tries to grab at any other topic and bury me with issues that have nothing to do with the
disagreement. This escalates an argument. There is no way to reason with someone who
uses this tactic of argument. He tries to compare items like couches to the dog feces I
came home to all over the apartment. You will see this in the officer's body cam footage.
Just because I have more stuff than him, does not mean I am the one causing a roach and
flea problem!
Of course he is calm and collected like a serial killer in front of the cops. When they left
he laughed loudly and viciously to his online friends and made fun of me. In the 911 call
he attacked me verbally and called me stupid and laughed at me for saying his name
wrong.
The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the American Disabilities Act.
Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request.
OF
AUSTIN
OFFICE OF
NOTICE OF FORMAL
POLICE OVERSIGHT
COMPLAINT
He's not just introverted as the cops defended him to be, he is unstable and socially inept.
He needs help."
This notice of formal complaint is a request for Internal Affairs to initiate an investigation in
order to determine if the employee conduct is within compliance of APD policy, Civil Service
Rules, and Municipal Civil Service Rules.
Recommended Administrative Policies to Review (to include but not limited to):
110.4.3 OBEDIENCE TO ORDERS
The Department is an organization with a clearly defined hierarchy of authority. This is necessary
because obedience of a superior's lawful command is essential for the safe and prompt performance
of law enforcement operations. This section also applies to orders received by an employee in the
field training program from a Field Training Officer (FTO),
110.4.4 INSUBORDINATION
Employees will not be insubordinate. The willful disobedience of, or deliberate refusal to obey
any lawful order of a supervisor is insubordination. Defying the authority of any supervisor by
obvious disrespect, arrogant or disrespectful conduct, ridicule, or challenge to orders issued is
considered insubordination whether done in or out of the supervisor's presence.
301.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE
All persons deserve protection by fair and impartial law enforcement and should be able to expect
similar police response to their behavior wherever it occurs. Employees will serve the public
through direction, counseling, assistance, and protection of life and property. Employees will be
held accountable for the manner in which they exercise the authority of their office or position.
Employees will respect the rights of individuals and perform their services with honesty, sincerity,
courage, and sound judgment.
301.2 IMPARTIAL ATTITUDE AND COURTESY
Employees are expected to act professionally, treat all persons fairly and equally, and perform all
duties impartially, objectively, and equitably without regard to personal feelings, animosities,
friendships, financial status, sex, creed, color, race, religion, age, political beliefs, sexual
orientation, gender identity or gender expression or social or ethnic background.
402.2 INCIDENT REPORTING
A well-written report can help make a case just as easily as a poorly written report can ruin a case.
Employees have the responsibility to write clear, factual, and complete reports.
900.3.4 PERSONAL CONDUCT
(c) While on-duty or on the premises of City facilities, employees will not:
1. Use loud, indecent, profane, harsh, derogatory language, or use belittling term in any
communications.
2. Ridicule, mock, taunt, embarrass, humiliate, or shame any person, nor do anything that
might incite that person to violence.
The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the American Disabilities Act.
Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request.
OF
CITY
OFFICE OF
NOTICE OF FORMAL
POLICE OVERSIGHT
COMPLAINT
FOUNDE
1839
Recommended Classification: The OPO is permitted to make a preliminary recommendation
on the classification of administrative cases.
The OPO recommends that this allegation receive a B classification.
A
OUNDED
1839
The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the American Disabilities Act.
Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request.