Officer Michael Olsen kills man

[KC]

Shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday, Austin police Sgt. Michael Olsen was summoned by a security guard at an East Austin nightclub who reported seeing a patron with a gun, according to investigators and the sergeant's lawyer.

Olsen began questioning 25-year-old Kevin Alexander Brown, authorities said, but the man fled, jumping a chain-link fence and running to a nearby apartment complex courtyard.

Minutes later, he was shot to death by Olsen, who has been suspended in the past for using excessive force, including when he was accused of slamming a man on the ground so hard that he lost consciousness.

Olsen, who was working an overtime shift to help reduce crime in and around the East 12th Street nightclub known by neighbors for rowdiness, told investigators immediately after Sunday's shooting that he fired when Brown reached toward his waistband as though he were retrieving a weapon, attorney Tom Stribling said.

Olsen "does feel that he was justified in taking action because of the fact that the subject would not comply with his orders, would not show his hands, and he continued to move as if drawing a weapon," Stribling said.

According to public records, Brown had a criminal record for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

The shooting, which involved a black suspect and a white officer, prompted renewed skepticism from some community leaders about how Austin police officers use force against minorities.

It came two days after the city announced that the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would investigate the use of force among officers and "whether APD is systemically violating the Constitution of the United States," the agency said in a letter to the city.

It also comes as Austin is searching for a new police chief.

A gun was found 20 to 25 feet from Brown's body, Stribling said.

He said that Olsen had not seen the weapon before he fired and that he was "fairly certain" Olsen had a Taser stun gun, which uses less-than-lethal force.

Austin police would not confirm many of those details late Sunday but said they are conducting an investigation and might release more information today.

Acting Police Chief Cathy Ellison said Olsen was one of four officers working the overtime assignment in response to a request from the neighborhood that they help curtail loud music, illegal parking and other offenses in and around Chester's Nightclub.

She confirmed that Olsen approached Brown, that they had "an encounter" — Ellison said she didn't know the specifics of the exchange — and that the man fled on foot. She said that Olsen pursued the man and that shots were fired a short time later.

Ellison said she didn't know what prompted Olsen to shoot. Olsen has been placed on restricted duty pending an investigation, she said.

Austin police are generally allowed to use deadly force if they think their life or the lives of others are in immediate danger.

Samuel Walker, an expert on police use of force and retired criminal justice professor from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said that "if a person is fleeing, he can't be threatening."

"If he's running away and pointing backwards with a gun, well, that would be different," Walker said.

The shooting was the fourth time since 2002 that a white officer has fatally shot a minority suspect. The others were Daniel Rocha in June 2005, Jesse Lee Owens in June 2003 and Sophia King in June 2002.

Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said that he would try to withhold judgment about the shooting but that "it's disturbing."

"Once again, they are black, and it's in the black community," he said.

Brown's family gathered Sunday afternoon at his family's home in Northeast Austin but declined to comment.


Witnesses' accounts


Chris Johnson said he was standing in his driveway about 4:15 a.m. Sunday and had called police about noise coming from the nearby Chester's Nightclub.

He said that a few minutes later, he heard a series of shots and called 911.

"I said, 'Get here quick,' " said Johnson, a member of the Police Chief Peoples' Forum, which consults with the chief about community issues.

Moments later, Johnson said, a man ran over to him, screaming that police had killed the man's brother.

"It's so unfortunate," said Johnson, who did not know what led to the shooting. "It couldn't have come at a worse time. It's like Pandora's box opening up all over again."

Sherlyn Presley said she was in Chester's parking lot, about 10 feet from the man, when police approached him. She said the man "was just standing there."

She said the man broke away and began running, with four or five officers in pursuit.

The last time she saw him was when he jumped a fence between the rear of the club and the apartment complex. She said she heard police yelling "Down" and then several shots moments later.

Johnson said he heard four shots; Presley said she heard four or five.

John Parker, 27, said he was walking to his car at the apartment complex when he saw Brown jump a fence from behind Chester's and run towards him. Parker said two police were chasing Brown on foot and were trailing him by about 10 to 15 steps.

Parker said that Brown's pants kept falling down as he ran and that he tried to pull them up. He said Brown ran past him and he stepped out of the way.

Parker said Brown ran around a corner.

"The next thing I heard were the shots, boom boom," he said.


Federal review


The Justice Department investigation announced Friday will include a review of how officers are trained, how incidents are documented and meetings with community leaders.

The Austin chapter of the NAACP and the Texas Civil Rights Project had filed a complaint with the Justice Department three years ago.

The complaint was triggered in part by an Austin American- Statesman series revealing that from 1998 to 2003, police were twice as likely to use force against blacks as against whites and 25 percent more likely to use force against Hispanics than against whites.

During that time, all but one of the 11 people who were killed by police officers were minorities.

Olsen, then a detective, was among the 10 officers who were responsible for 10 percent of the department's use of force reports during that time. Austin police union officials have said the number of use-of-force reports aren't necessarily an accurate representation of the number of incidents.

The groups added to their complaint in February 2005 after several officers and dispatchers exchanged computer messages that included "Burn, baby, burn" during a fire at the Midtown Live nightclub, which catered to black patrons.

The investigation — and this latest shooting — come as the city is working to hire a new police chief, who is expected to be named by the end of the month.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/n ... ies/local/

[WaTcHeR]

A Travis County grand jury has declined to indict Austin police Sgt. Michael Olsen in the death of 25-year-old Kevin Brown, whom Olsen shot twice in the back outside a popular East 12th Street nightclub in June.

Grand jurors issued their one-page decision Thursday, saying that they had labored over the case and had found no criminal wrongdoing. They made no other statements about their opinion.

State District Judge Wilford Flowers, who had impaneled the group — composed of six African American, three white and three Hispanic jurors — did not make public Thursday a list of jurors' names.

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said in a statement that grand jurors heard evidence and testimony for 10 days beginning in late June, including observations from 12 witnesses: seven civilians, four expert or law enforcement witnesses, and Olsen.

According to his written statement released Thursday, Olsen told investigators hours after the shooting that he was "100 percent sure" Brown had a gun when he shot him during a foot chase. He said he decided to shoot when he saw Brown reach toward his waistband as if retrieving a weapon and that "I was confident I had a clear shot and a high probability of hitting the target."

Olsen said he fired several rounds, that Brown fell facedown and continued reaching around his waist.

"I still felt threatened by his actions and thought he was still trying to get the gun out," Olsen said. "I paused and hesitated, especially because he was facedown and on the ground, before making the decision to shoot several more rounds to ensure I ended the threat.

"I remember thinking that I really didn't want to shoot him again, but that I still felt he was trying to get a gun and was still a threat to my life," Olsen said in his statement.

Investigators questioned dozens of people about the incident, but none said they saw Olsen fire the shots. Police later recovered a gun in the courtyard, about 30 feet from Brown's body.

Attorney Jason Nassour, who represented Olsen in the grand jury proceeding, said his client was "confident that once the facts were revealed, he would be exonerated."

"Sergeant Olsen acted with professionalism and courage in the face of an extremely dangerous encounter where his life, the lives of other officers and the lives of bystanders were at risk," Nassour said in a statement. "Sergeant Olsen has personally taken this very hard, and extends his condolences to the family of the deceased."

The grand jury decision ends the criminal investigation into the shooting of Brown, who had been a patron at Chester's Club on June 3. Authorities from the U.S. Department of Justice are still investigating the shooting to determine whether Olsen violated Brown's civil rights.

Austin police also are doing an internal investigation. Olsen, who has been disciplined in the past for using excessive force, remains on administrative leave with pay.

"We will look at everything," Police Chief Art Acevedo said Thursday. "It will be a very comprehensive review."

Brown's mother, Ethel Washington, declined to comment Thursday. Family members had described him in a news conference shortly after the shooting as a sports fan who loved video games and cherished his 5-year-old son. Court records show Brown spent time in jail for a felony assault conviction as well as for a conviction on a misdemeanor drug charge.

Austin attorney Adam Loewy, who is representing Brown's family said, "Kevin Brown's family is very disappointed with the grand jury's decision not to criminally indict Sgt. Michael Olsen. It is clear that Sgt. Olsen violated Kevin Brown's civil rights when he shot Kevin Brown twice in the back. We believe a civil jury will hold Sgt. Olsen accountable for his unlawful actions and use of excessive force." He said the family plans to file a lawsuit.

Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the decision "is the latest in a series of despicable and cowardly acts by grand juries where African American suspects were shot and killed by white police officers."

Police have said that Olsen, who was working an overtime assignment in the area around the club, was investigating a report that Brown had a gun. Brown began fleeing when Olsen tried to question him, running into an apartment complex courtyard, police said.

The district attorney's office Thursday released copies of hundreds of pages of witnesses' statements, diagrams and other documents in the case. The information provides a more specific accounting of what happened minutes before and after the shooting.

According to Olsen's statement, he had just finished a traffic stop on East 12th Street, almost directly in front of Chester's, when a club security guard flagged him down about 4 a.m. and told him that a patron had reported being threatened.

Olsen said the guard told him that the customer thought the man had a weapon. The security guard initially described a possible suspect, but later told Olsen that the first man had handed a gun to another patron, later identified as Brown.

Olsen said he walked toward Brown, who then "stepped back away from me. At that point, I had a distinct gut feeling something was wrong and the hair on the back of my neck stood up."

Olsen said he decided to go "hands on" and tried to grab Brown's hands. He said Brown stepped back, pushed him and started to run.

"Had I known I was just arresting him for drugs or something, I would have just wrapped him up and tackled him," Olsen said. "Because I thought he had a gun, I was more hesitant and was trying to keep an eye on his hands."

Olsen said Brown ran toward the back of the parking lot and that he radioed a description of Brown to other officers in the area. He said Brown plunged down a large drop-off and ran into an apartment complex courtyard.

Olsen said he yelled several times at Brown to stop and show his hands, but that Brown kept his hands in his waistband area.

"After a short distance, he slowed and turned slightly towards me, looking directly at me," Olsen said in the statement. "I don't remember exactly how far he turned his body towards me, but it was coming towards me, and his head was turned towards me, looking at me.

"He was clearly digging his hand into his waistband, and I feared he was trying to pull the gun on me. ... I feared for my life and made the decision to shoot him to defend myself from imminent attack."

According to the autopsy report, the bullets entered Brown's body midback on the right side, and travelled from the back of his body to the front, right to left, and down. The bullets entered on the right side and fractured three of Brown's left ribs.

The shooting happened two days after city officials announced that the U.S. Department of Justice would review how Austin police officers use force, particularly against minorities.

It is unclear how long its inquiry into the shooting will take.

Acevedo said the internal affairs investigation will seek to determine whether Olsen violated any department policies in the shooting, and that he wants to complete the investigation during the next four to six weeks.

"We have a responsibility to the community and our officers to make sure we take our time to get a complete and accurate picture of what happened," Acevedo said.


THE STORY SO FAR ...

Use of force in question

Police Sgt. Michael Olsen fatally shot Kevin Brown shortly after 4 a.m. June 3 following a chase near Chester's Club in East Austin. Olsen said he thought Brown had a gun. The shooting occurred two days after city officials said the Justice Department would review how Austin police officers use force, particularly against minorities. Olsen is white; Brown was African American. The Justice Department is investigating to determine whether Olsen violated Brown's civil rights. The Austin Police Department is conducting an internal investigation.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/n ... obill.html