An Austin Police Department internal affairs officer was indefinitely suspended Thursday after writing an email that an independent investigation said showed bias in the inquiry into Nathaniel Sanders’ shooting.
"Lenny Quintana has an asterisk by his name that will follow him through his life because of one investigator," APD Chief Art Acevedo said.
Chief Acevedo said in a news conference Thursday afternoon that investigator is former APD Internal Affairs Detective Chris Dunn.
In an e-mail addressed to other internal affairs officers, Dunn suggests officers use Nathaniel Sanders' criminal history to help clear Officer Leonardo Quintana.
Austin Police Association president Wayne Vincent said Dunn will file an appeal of his termination on Friday.
A report released in early October by Keypoint Solutions, which was hired by the city, found "significant problems" with the internal affairs investigation and "bias in favor of the officers involved."
The report highlighted an email written by Dunn to other internal affairs investigators, dated May 13 – two days after Officer Leonardo Quintana shot and killed Sanders in Central East Austin.
KVUE was able to see a copy of the email on Thursday:
"Let’s get Sanders' probationary records. Also check for records on others. See if he/they were in compliance and what conditions were. If he/they violated curfew and/or carrying a gun/using/carrying drugs we can make him/them a causation of the entire event… GUEZZ I am so smart I scare myself."
A police memo released Thursday shows Dunn suggested internal affairs officers handling the case not ask specific questions of Quintana because they didn't want to give any "ammo."
Acevedo found Dunn's behavior a fire-able offense.
"I am not going to play Russian roulette with the public in terms of having an officer who is pretty infamous right about now be witness to a critical investigation," Acevedo said.
“The contention is that by his questions of the suspects' backgrounds that he was being biased,” Vincent said. “In some respects looking at the background of some suspects is legitimate in investigations. I think it's just the tone he wrote the email, the comments he made at the end. It was kind of embarrassing, but certainly not to the level of firing a person.”
Quintana was cleared of wrongdoing by a Travis County grand jury, and on Wednesday, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo announced disciplinary action against Quintana – 15 days suspension for failing to activate the dashboard camera in his patrol car.
Vincent told KVUE News APD is making Dunn a scapegoat for investigation. He said Dunn has taken full responsibility for the email and understands the embarrassment it has caused.
“We were shocked by the severity of the punishment. There's no question that it was an embarrassing email; it was inappropriate, but the punishment to fire an officer in our view goes beyond punishment. It makes this officer a scapegoat for all of the things that happened during this investigation,” Vincent said.
In response to all of this, Acevedo has appointed new internal affairs leadership and more leadership. He will also ask the city council to promote IA detectives to sergeants so there is more credibility.
Dunn has been with APD since 1997.
