Days before a major police-imposed deadline in the shooting death of an Austin teenager, the community is speaking out.
The People’s Forum and Concerned Citizens met at the David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in East Austin Tuesday morning. The group didn't personally know Nathaniel Sanders, 18, but they're fighting for justice in his death.The small group said the time to wait for answers is long gone.
Sanders died in May after APD Officer Leonardo Quintana shot and killed him. The People's Forum felt Sander's death was too similar to other officer-related shootings. They're worried and upset about a pattern they feel targets minorities in the community.
“It's time that it stop right now because we have too many people we have too many people. Regardless of the color of the pigmentation -- be it brown or white -- it's target practice on us, but we don't kill nobody. The black cops don't kill nobody,” said Mae Leonard of the People’s Force.
Leonard wants Quintana off the force. She argues he broke police protocol by not turning on his own dashboard camera when the shooting happened. According to departmental police, it should have been recording.
So far, Quintana has yet to learn of his fate within the department.
He was cleared of criminal charges. The Austin Police Department conducted its own internal affairs investigation. However, a Citizen's Review Panel recommended an independent investigation, as well.
Those results came back a couple of weeks ago. It found internal officers showed bias towards Quintana.
“One thing that we just can't understand you know is why internal affairs continues to try and deal with their own problems. An entity cannot police itself. It cannot be objective,” said Joanne Sneed of the People’s Forum.
The discrepancy prompted APD to form another team to investigate those internal affairs officers. Using on the findings of that team, Chief Art Acevedo has until Friday to decide whether Quintana violated department policy and what if any disciplinary action he will issue.
