Sanders family sues officer, city
By Tony Plohetski | Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 10:09 AM
The family of Nathaniel Sanders II this morning filed a federal lawsuit against Austin Police officer Leonardo Quintana and the city, alleging racial discrimination and excessive force.
The “wrongful death” suit, which provides an account of the early morning May 11 shooting, comes less than a month after Quintana fatally shot Sanders in the parking lot of an East Austin apartment complex. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Austin, asks for an unspecified financial award to Sanders’ family for “past and future mental anguish.”
Police have said that Quintana had been investigating whether a Mercedes-Benz station wagon in which Sanders was sleeping was linked to gunfire at the complex. Quintana fired after Sanders reached for a weapon, police have said.
According to the 10-page suit, Quintana violated Austin police policy by not attempting to wake Sanders by activating his patrol car siren or bullhorn. He also never turned on the lights of his patrol car “in clear violation of APD policy,” the suit said.
The suit said that Quintana’s actions caused Sanders to wake up suddenly and alleges that “Quintana then overreacted and without justification pulled out his gun and began shooting Nathaniel Sanders II.”
“Defendant Quintana repeatedly shot Nathaniel Sanders II with callous disregard and fatally placed several bullets in Nathaniel Sanders II’s head and body,” the suit said.
The suit also alleges that the city had practices in place at the time of the shooting that contributed to the violation of Sanders’ civil rights, including inadequate supervision of officers concerning use of force, the use of excessive deadly force against minorities and inadequately training officers on how to approach sleeping subjects.
“Sadly, APD has long tolerated unconstitutional conduct by officers and the disproportionate uses of force against minorities, and kept officers with violent tendencies, like Officer Quintana, on the force,” the suit said.
Austin police officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but Chief Art Acevedo has said Quintana’s actions that morning are being investigated.
To read the full lawsuit, click here.
Welcome to the relationship between the press and the police.
I'll admit that their are some d-bag police as in every profession, but they are far and few as from what I have seen working as a security guard in Austin for over a year. And I have had to deal with APD. They're slow but they are nice when they get there.
Of course not then they would have to admit that their son was a shit head.Notice the photo in the story is not his booking photo for his robbery or his crack dealing arrests.
