A deadly shooting during an attempted arrest at a South Pleasant Valley apartment complex stoked anger and protests over the weekend, and raised questions over whether police had used force inappropriately during the incident.
Austin Police responded to a 911 call Friday evening about a man and woman doing drugs in a car at the apartment complex at 2601 S. Pleasant Valley Rd. During the attempted arrest of these individuals, an officer shot the man in the car, who was later identified as Mike Ramos, age 42.
Ramos was pronounced dead at a local hospital within about an hour, at 7:46 p.m.
In cell phone videos taken of the incident, apartment residents can be heard shouting angrily at the police within seconds of the shooting. Protests later followed Friday night and Saturday.
According to Police Chief Brian Manley, who gave a press briefing that evening, police first fired a non-deadly bean bag round at the suspect. In the videos, this appears to have spooked Ramos, causing him to get back into his vehicle and attempt to drive off.
An officer then fired a rifle at the car, hitting Ramos, whose car then crashed into a parked vehicle. The woman in the car with Ramos was unharmed.
Manley, who reviewed one police video of the incident before speaking to the press, described it as follows: “He can be seen standing outside the driver’s side of his vehicle, at one point he appears to have his hands in the air while he’s showing his waist. Typically that would be demonstrating that there is no weapon in the waistband.”
“He is yelling various things and the officers are telling him not to get back in the car and to keep his hands in the air, and telling him to step away from the vehicle. And at one point they decide to deploy the less lethal (bean bag shot) because, again, they were not getting the compliance they were asking for.”
Manley said that officers had arrived in force on the scene because the 911 caller had said the man in the vehicle had a gun, and because the car was thought to be linked to an incident the day before in which a suspect had successfully evaded arrest.
In his briefing, the police chief said that officers arrived on scene at about 6:35. “Given the nature of the call, and the information that was linked to what might have happened yesterday (Thursday, April 23) they waited until they had several officers on scene to form an approach with a larger number of officers.”
There are “many videos” of the incident and it will be investigated, Manley stressed.
The District Attorney’s office will investigate whether police broke any laws. APD Internal Affairs Unit and the Office of Police Oversight will look at whether proper protocols were followed.
Critics Speak Out
In the aftermath of the incident, various groups have spoken out against police actions in this case. The Austin Justice Coalition held a call over Facebook livestream on Saturday, in which participants described the shooting as a result of systemic racism and a lack of police training.
“In spite of a pandemic that is pausing the entire world, racism and police brutality continues to persist,” said Chas Moore, Executive Director of the Austin Justice Coalition.
Moore described Ramos’ reaction to the police who were surrounding him as one of “self-defense” and “just trying to survive.” He said, “From the footage that we saw from the community members that sent us stuff, he was shot first with a beanbag shotgun with his hands up, and after that he retreated to his car and drove away from the officers in what I would say was self-defense, or just trying to survive.”
Moore noted that Ramos was half black and half hispanic; police earlier had identified him as hispanic. Also speaking on the call, Angelica Erazo, Vice Chair of Austin’s Hispanic Quality of Life Commission, said, “When the police and city leadership don’t take our calls for real deescalation training seriously, it feels like something like this was only a matter of time.”
Erazo added, “We have been calling for APD to make changes for years, for decades… they are denying that anything is wrong with their training.”
City Council Member Greg Casar echoed this sentiment in a Facebook post, writing, “Michael Ramos should be alive… Our police department has de-escalation rules. It has training. But those things do not seem to be enough. There will be a thorough investigation of last night’s incident, but that is not good enough on its own. We cannot rest until our justice system and our City does much better for all if its people.”
According to other media reports and social media posts, a handful of protesters gathered Saturday outside the apartment complex, including members of the local activist group Defend Our Hoodz. They held up a banner saying “APD Murdered Mike Ramos” and chanted, “We all saw, we all heard, APD are murderers.”
In a statement, Mayor Steve Adler said, “I’m very disturbed by the spectator’s video I’ve now seen on which Mike Ramos does not appear to threaten but ends up dead. There’s got to be a better way. The use of force is the most most potent and irreversible of a police officer’s tools and requires trust between officers and the communities they protect. We may not yet know all the facts and we need to before we pass final judgment, but we know what we see, people are hurting, and there are many questions.”
Manley Asks for Witnesses to Come Forward
Chief Manley took to social media the day after the incident to issue another statement concerning the shooting. He said, “I have seen the videos that are on social media and I understand the concern that those have brought forward in our community. But it is important that anyone else that we have not yet had an opportunity to speak with — or anyone who has video of this incident — please come forward.”
Manley said that investigators worked through the night Friday, and continued Sunday, speaking with witnesses and watching body-worn camera videos, in-car camera videos from police cars, and videos on social media.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 512-974-8477.
