Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody, who faces accusations of a cover-up in a use-of-force incident, has lost his seat to Democrat Mike Gleason by a margin of more than 32,000 votes.
After all votes were counted, the county elections department reported that Gleason led 56% to 44%.
Sheriff Chody was indicted for evidence tampering just weeks before the election, along with Assistant County Attorney Jason Nassour. The charges related to evidence in the case of Javier Ambler, who died of heart failure on March 28, 2019, after being tased repeatedly by Williamson County deputies.
The circumstances of Ambler’s death didn’t fully come to light until much later, and his family were kept in the dark.
Live PD, a television show that had a crew on-scene during Ambler’s arrest, later said that it had destroyed footage of the incident. Chody and Nassour were arrested and released on bond September 28.
After being indicted, Chody waved off the allegations, saying they were “engineered” and designed to hurt his chances at reelection. The charges were brought by the district prosecutor, Shawn Dick, a fellow Republican.
Chody won office in 2016, taking 58% of the votes in a Republican primary before running unopposed in the general election.
Chody has faced pressure from the County Commissioners Court over his relationship with the show Live PD. An investigation by the Austin American-Statesman found that sheriff’s deputies behaved more aggressively with arrestees when on-camera.
The newspaper analyzed 124 use-of-force reports and found that violent encounters between Williamson County sheriff’s deputies and civilians nearly doubled, from 43 in 2017 to 82 in 2019, after Live PD began filming in the county.
The Statesman reported, “During the weeks when the reality TV show filmed with the department, deputies used force significantly more often than during weeks when those cameras weren’t on patrol.”
Chody’s opponent, the new sheriff-elect, Mike Gleason, is a retired 24-year law enforcement veteran who last held the position of assistant chief deputy.
In other Williamson County races, a fairly close contest for County Attorney ended with a win for Dee Hobbs, the Republican, over Stan Springerley, 54% to 46%.
Cedar Park Mayor Corbin Van Arsdale won reelection by a comfortable margin 58% to 42%. Round Rock Mayor Craig Morgan won another term unopposed.
