The Austin City Council has approved a $2.95 million settlement with Brad Levi Ayala, who was shot with a beanbag round during protests on May 30, 2020.
Ayala, who was 16 at the time, was a bystander at the protest near the Austin Police Department headquarters. He was on his way home from a sandwich shop when he stopped to watch the protest. Social media videos showed him standing near Interstate 35 with his hands to his side when he suddenly collapsed after being struck in the head by the bean bag round.
He suffered a skull fracture and needed seven hours in surgery to remove the bean bag round from his head, according to his family and court documents.
The Travis County District Attorney’s office has secured a grand jury indictment against Austin Police Officer Nicholas Gebhart for aggravated assault. Lawyers for Gebhart and other indicted officers say they were responding to violent protesters who were hurling rocks and bottles. They’ve expressed confidence that the officers will be exonerated at trial.
Police Chief Joe Chacon said he was “extremely disappointed” in the charges and in the District Attorney. He said, “There were significant portions of times that the crowds were riotous and violent. I am not aware of any conduct that, given the circumstances, these officers were working under would rise to the level of a criminal violation by these officers.”
The settlement with Ayala is the latest in a raft of lawsuits related to the use of the so-called less-lethal rounds that severely injured demonstrators. Since February, the city has paid out a total of $13.1 million to four demonstrators injured during protests.
Shortly after the May protests, the Austin Police Department said it would no longer use the rounds for crowd control. Questions have been raised about whether the rounds were expired and if officers had been properly trained how to use them.
