At press time, the civil service arbitration hearing for former Austin Police Department Internal Affairs Detective Chris Dunn was still under way. The hearing began Monday, April 12; how quickly it will conclude hinges largely, it appears, on how quickly the city can wrap up its case. Indeed, the proceedings slogged from the start as the protracted questioning of the city’s very first witness, Lt. Mark Spangler, went on for a whopping day and a half. At issue in the appeal is Chief Art Acevedo’s decision last year to fire Dunn for exhibiting “bias” in the IA investigation into the officer-involved shooting death of Nathaniel Sanders II by Officer Leonardo Quintana on May 11, 2009. In firing Dunn, who was one of three detectives ultimately assigned to the inquiry, Acevedo said that Dunn’s bias in favor of Quintana tainted the internal administrative review of the shooting. But it appears now that there are far larger issues at play, including why Dunn and the case’s lead investigator – both newcomers to IA at the time of the shooting – were assigned to handle such a complex and high-profile case. The hearing continues today and (fingers crossed) should wrap up on Friday afternoon.
This article appears in April 16 • 2010.