Austin Police said it's investigating a series of incidents over the weekend in which cars were racing and blocking traffic. One officer was injured and multiple law enforcement vehicles were damaged, APD said.
Council Member Ryan Alter, whose district includes one of the areas where the incidents occurred, said Council plans to follow the investigation this week.
“I think once we have all the information about what exactly it was that happened – were there steps that could have made it so that we could have addressed this faster?" he said."Why did it take well over 20 minutes for police to arrive? Is that a function of the challenges we've had with the 911 call center or just a function of the challenge that there was logistically in terms of just how many cars were blocking access to where the police needed to arrive.
“The Austin Police Association posted some false comments on Sunday that appeared to wrongly conflate this illegal incident with important community conversations about safety and oversight,” he said. “Twitter is not an appropriate forum for contract negotiations, and no Austinite should ever accept the false choice between public safety and responsible policing — Austin can, and will, have both.
APD did not respond to KUT’s request for comment. The Travis County District Attorney’s Office said it is still evaluating the situation and did not want to provide a comment at this time.to support it. Your gift pays for everything you find on KUT.org. Thanks for donating today.
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