AUSTIN (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lashed out Wednesday at the local prosecutor in his state’s capital, floating the possibility of clemency to 19 Austin police officers indicted for tactics used against during 2020 demonstrations against racial injustice.
Abbott, a Republican, alluded to the local police union’s assertion that charging the officers was a “political sham” in his first public statement on the indictments, including against two officers involved in injury cases that the city has offered to pay millions of dollars to settle.
“In Austin, law enforcement officers defended the state Capitol from criminal assault, protected the Austin Police Department headquarters from being overrun, cleared the interstate from being shut down, and disrupted criminal activity in areas across the city,” Abbott said. “Many officers were physically attacked while protecting Austin. Those officers should be praised for their efforts, not prosecuted.”
