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City of Austin & APD sued for excessive force
A man is suing the City of Austin and two Austin Police Department officers for excessive force. He was accused of jaywalking and thrown to the ground.
AUSTIN, Texas - A man is suing the City of Austin and two Austin Police Department officers for excessive force. He was accused of jaywalking and thrown to the ground.
The backstory:
On July 30, 2024, Antonio Alexander was at Oltorf and Parker.
Officers Ryne Kirchberg and Shalom Alvarez pulled up and accused him of jaywalking. Body camera footage shows the officers grabbing him and taking him to the ground.
"It's been a very horrible, to be honest, very scarring experience," Alexander said.
Alexander was charged with resisting arrest, but that was ultimately dropped. He's filing a lawsuit against the city and both officers.
His attorney, Chris Tolbert, says the pattern of excessive force has to stop.
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"We have citizens who are doing nothing other than waiting at a bus stop, wearing a red hoodie, completely innocent behavior, and they have to suffer this. They have to live with this type of assault on their dignity, and in this case, on his person," he said.
Alexander's leg was fractured. He had to have surgery and metal rods placed in his leg and says he still has pain to this day.
"It's abuse of power, and it's not okay at all," Alexander said.
Both officers involved have disciplinary histories.
Alvarez has two suspensions, one from 2022 and one from 2025. Kirchberg has a 12-day suspension from 2022.
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"We just want to make sure that we don't take steps backwards for all the good work that we've done around police reform here in the city of Austin," Chas Moore of the Austin Justice Coalition said.
Alexander says he wants the lawsuit to give him, "justice, really just also looking for a path to better discipline."
"What we hope to achieve in this lawsuit is accountability, and we want justice for our client, and we want the officers to pay for what they did," Tolbert said.
City of Austin settles 78 civil lawsuits involving APD officers
Records reveal the city of Austin has paid millions in police-related lawsuits over the past five years. Some of the largest payouts stemmed from APD’s response to the 2020 George Floyd protests.
In a statement, the city says:
"The City has not yet been served with this lawsuit, but will review it and respond appropriately."
Over the past five years, the city has settled 78 lawsuits involving APD officers. That's roughly $37 million in settlements.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Angela Shen