An Austin man is still in critical condition Tuesday morning.
More than two weeks ago, a veteran Austin Police Department officer hit a motorcyclist with his vehicle in a north Austin neighborhood.
Shortly after 9 a.m. May 29, Officer Damon Dunn had just finished making a traffic stop. He had yet to turn off his dashboard camera, when he ran a stop sign and crashed into a 74-year-old man.
In broad daylight, with a full block from where he’d been stopped, Officer Dunn just flat out ran a stop sign and crashed into a motorcycle, which, after watching the video, I find it hard to believe he wouldn’t have seen. Of course, he apparently didn’t see the stop sign either. As galling as it is to hear about someone who should be upholding the laws breaking them through stupidity or negligence, the APD response is even more bothersome.
The department is conducting an internal investigation to see if there will be any disciplinary action.
Really? Their going to investigate a serious-injury-producing accident caused by one of their officers running a stop sign, which was completely caught on his dashboard camera … to see if there will be any disciplinary action? I can’t wait to hear what they decide! I can assure you, without a single doubt, that if it were you, or I, or anyone else who is not a police officer who had run a stop sign, hit and seriously injured a 74 year old motorcyclist, and had the whole thing caught on film, we’d be facing slightly more than some disciplinary action. We’d most likely be taken to the police station, charged with a crime and booked into the system, and then have to enjoy a day in court to decide what our punishment would be … jail, fines, probation, and so on.
Until such time as police officers are held to the exact same standards as non-police officers, I don’t see how they can expect to be respected as much as they so wish to be, and it’s a mark on the entire department whenever a cop does something a civilian would get in great trouble for doing and essentially gets off with a slap on the wrist in the form of a suspension from work (sometimes even with pay).
Quite frankly, I’m surprised this even made the news. In fact, News 8 is the only source for the story, and this wreck happened weeks ago … and the 74 year old motorcyclist who was hit is still in the hospital. Wonder if we’ll ever hear about whether or not any disciplinary action of any kind is ever handed down? I’ll be keeping my eyes and ears open for further news on this story, but this feels like one of those stories that’s going to disappear into the ether without ever being mentioned again.