A grand jury in Travis County brought indictments on three Austin Police Department officers last week – the first such occurrences involving APD officers under District Attorney Margaret Moore. The three officers were involved in two incidents: SWAT team members Robert Pfaff and Donald Petraitis for deploying a stun gun on an individual after a shooting on 12th Street and Red River on Feb. 16, and allegedly providing statements about the individual who was struck that investigators deemed to be untrue; and Nathaniel Stallings for a separate occurrence on Oct. 6, 2017, in which he is reported to have grabbed a woman during a prostitution bust in such a way that her head hit the hood of a vehicle.
Pfaff faces charges of aggravated perjury, assault with bodily injury, abuse of official capacity, and official oppression – a third-degree felony charge punishable by 2-10 years in prison. Petraitis’ charges are the same, save for the aggravated perjury; meaning his alleged crimes only rise to the level of a class A misdemeanor. Stallings also faces a class A misdemeanor; he’s been charged with assault with bodily injury involving official misconduct, and abuse of official capacity. Attorneys for Petraitis and Pfaff issued a statement shortly after the grand jury returned its indictment, calling the officers’ actions “necessary, appropriate, and consistent with APD training.” They believe the D.A.’s office fast-tracked the their clients’ cases as part of “an unfortunate rush to judgment.”
This article appears in March 23 • 2018.