Why can't Council just do the right thing?

Two weeks ago City Council approved an agreement to pay a law firm up to $609,000 to represent the city against a lawsuit from two victims of jaw dropping police incompetence.

The item passed quietly on the consent agenda, with no discussion. Only Council members Ryan Alter and Vanessa Fuentes voted against approving the legal services agreement with Richards Rodriguez & Skeith in Glen & Mindy Shield v. City of Austin.

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You may recall that nearly three years ago two officers were conducting a welfare check on a troubled man, Dwayne Brzozowski, in Southeast Austin. Brzozowski opened his door brandishing a shotgun, prompting them to retreat and call for backup. One of them sought refuge in an open garage of Glen and Mindy Shield, across the street.

For some reason, the officers who later arrived ended up raiding the Shields' home, rather than the one the actual threat came from. They detained the oblivious couple for hours and ransacked their house, damaging a gas line and causing $23,000 of damage.

The original account of the event was bad enough, but last year it was revealed that the officers who had fled Brzozowski told their colleagues that they were at the "wrong friggin house" and yet the cops still deployed explosives to blow off the Shields' front door!

The brutish incompetence is mind boggling.

The Shields have said all they want is fair compensation for the damages and an apology.

Instead, the city said it was not obligated to pay. State law "provides immunity from liability for property damage to local governments that engage in law enforcement and public safety functions, such as the Austin Police Department carried out in this case," the city said at the time.

It's one thing for the city attorney to take that stance. But it's truly remarkable that the mayor and Council are going along with it as if there is no place for ethics or morality in political leadership.

Just think about this for a second. The City Council is under no legal obligation to pursue the vast majority of its policies. They don't have to invest in affordable housing or environmental protection. In theory they do it because it's the right thing to do.

And yet for some reason in this instance they're acting as if they have no choice but to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend the indefensible. It's a baffling decision, not just because it's so clearly wrong, but because it also happens to be about 30 times more expensive than simply paying for the damages!

I reached out to Glen Shields, who declined to comment. In an email he sent me a little over a year ago, however, he said that home insurance had covered some but not all of the damages caused by APD. He also expressed bewilderment at the cold shoulder he'd gotten from city officials.

"Why are the people who swore an oath to uphold the rights of citizens refusing to do the job they swore to do?" he asked. "Are all these people who refuse to take action incompetent or just cowards who want to cover up problems?"

I don't know what to tell him.

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