NAACP's Linder pleased with APD's 'less lethal' SWAT outcome

AUSTIN, Texas - After a long standoff, 20-year-old Dominique Devon Smith walks out and puts his hands up.

But then because police say since he wasn't responding to commands, SWAT fires less lethal rounds at him.

In response to the angry crowd, Austin police came over to explain the young man was okay.

"The SWAT team has medics embedded with them...so there's already medics with them up there on the front," said an officer to the crowd.

A woman who only identified herself as Mimi was visibly upset.

"I saw that man, black man come out with this hands up. And I saw, I don't know what they shot him with...bean bags, tranquilizers, whatever it is...it wasn't right because he had his hands up. What are you shooting him for?" she said.

While SWAT made sure a third person wasn't in the house, APD moved the crowds back.

Nelson Linder with the Austin chapter of the NAACP says he doesn't know all of the facts yet but given the danger of the situation, he says the young man is lucky to be alive and Linder's glad he is alive.

"Last night, the caution, the patience involved...that's what you want in those kinds of situations," Linder said.

Linder says less-lethal rounds is a concept the NAACP fought for here in Austin years ago.

"From my standpoint, that's what we want, we want bean bags...not deadly force and so from my own standpoint, that's progress," Linder said.

Donald Matthews works across the street. He saw the beginning of the standoff and then left. But FOX 7 showed him the video of the shooting and told him about Smith not complying with commands and later attacking the officers with a knife.

"I don't know all that but I know when somebody's got their hands up in the air it's like what more can you do?" Matthews said.

But like Linder, Matthews is pleased SWAT used force that didn't take Smith's life.

"The cops got to do their job. But yeah they're gonna get a bad rap if they end up doing that which...thank God that it didn't happen like that," Matthews said.

Earlier today FOX 7 found what appears to be another form of less lethal round at the scene.

APD confirmed with us they did use a mix of bean bag pellets and other forms of less lethal.