Notice of complaint related to 2022-0612
Complainant alleges Austin police officer used pepper spray on the complainant's son without reason.
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OFFICE OF
POLICE OVERSIGHT
FOUNDED
NOTICE OF COMPLAINT
July 22, 2022
ICMS #: 2022-0612
On July 22, 2022, the OPO received an online complaint.
The complainant alleges: On
at approximately
, our
recent high school graduate, 18-year-old son, was attending a concert at
, when
a fight broke out near where he & his friends were viewing the show. Neither he nor his
group were in any way involved in the tussle, they were merely bystanders. Suddenly, he
felt liquid & burning on the back of his neck, at which point he swung around to see where
it was coming from. At that point, he glimpsed about 8 Austin Police officers, 2 or SO using
pepper spray indiscriminately in the direction of the fight. In an instant, he was sprayed in
the face & eyes, incapacitating him for about 40 minutes. He called my wife & I once he
could stop crying & breathe normally, around
, & he detailed what had happened.
Our son is allergic to a variety of substances if contacting his skin & also has eczema. He
is fortunate that this incident did not lead to a major reaction of some kind. He was unable
to identify the officer(s) responsible, since he was incapacitated & sprawled on the ground.
This was a reckless, unjust, & indefensible response to the fight by APD, which did not
even include a verbal warning/intervention against those actually involved in the fight! We
expect a full explanation & accounting by those officers involved. Our son is very lucky
not to be injured.
This notice of complaint is a request for Internal Affairs to initiate an investigation to
determine if the employee conduct is within compliance of APD policy, Civil Service
Rules, and Municipal Civil Service Rules.