Abbott floats pardons for Austin police officers charged for excessive force in May 2020 protests
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/02/23/Abbott-Austin-police-indictment/
Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday blasted the indictment of more than a dozen Austin police officers for alleged excessive force during the May 2020 racial justice protests and dangled the possibility of pardons for them.
Those officers should be praised for their efforts, not prosecuted, Abbott said in a statement. Time will tell whether the accusations against the courageous Austin police officers is a political sham. Time will also tell whether I, as Governor, must take action to exonerate any police officer unjustly prosecuted.
Travis County District Attorney José Garza's office, which brought the indictments, responded to Abbott's statement by defending the decision to pursue charges.
"Unlike the Governor, we believe that no one is above the law, and that our communities are safer when people see and believe that is true," the office said in a statement.
The indictments accuse the 19 officers of using deadly weapons to injure nearly a dozen demonstrators and threatening them with serious bodily harm during the May 2020 protests against police brutality following the killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Michael Ramos in Austin.
*snip*
Fuck this guy.