APD officer severely injured chasing suspect

AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - The Austin Police Association responded to an officer injury at the intersection of West 290 and FM1826 Tuesday. The officer was rushed to the hospital with severe facial trauma and broken bones.

The officer was called to the area because a man was allegedly pointing a gun at people.

Police Union President Ken Casaday said the suspect resisted arrest and ran off. The officer was chasing Cory Zurovetz when he fell down a drainage ditch.

Zurovetz was arrested the same day.

According to Casaday, the suspect lives in the woods not too far from where the incident occurred.

"We consistently hear that they are constantly the victim and actually we have a large portion of the homeless population that do commit crimes a large amount of them are on drugs and alcohol," Casaday said.

Emily Gerrick from the Texas Fair Defense Project and Homes Not Handcuff's Coalition views the incident differently.

"The data bares homeless people are likely to be the victims of crimes then they are to be perpetrators of crimes," Gerrick said. "They are likely to be more victimized then housed individuals and are more vulnerable."

Gerrick recognizes that crime happens all the time. The reason this incident is under the magnifying glass for APA is because of the city's battle with current homeless ordinances, an issue, Casaday said the city has not provided answers to.

"I'm all for housing people that can be housed we need to help at all costs to make that happen but there's absolutely no plan for people like this who committed this crime," Casaday said. "You can't be out pointing guns at people, you can't be high on drugs all the time, who is going to allow you into housing and the city is going to have to answer that question."

Zurovetz has been charged with evading arrest and serious bodily injury.

His bond is set at $50,000 dollars.