27 Apr
2016
Posted in: Blog Post
By    7 Comments

The City of Austin continues their war on the homeless

Over nearly four years of filming the police, we have found an undeniable pattern of selective policing in the City of Austin. While the City of Austin often claims to be progressive and compassionate, and that takes into account the dignity and rights of the homeless population, the reality is that the police force sees this populations as one to be bullied and beaten for sport.

We have observed and filmed numerous instances of the Austin Police Department harassing, abusing, and arresting the homeless for “crimes” that the rest of society (except people of color) does not get harassed for.

On the evening of December 3, 2015, independent photojournalist Julian Reyes filmed Austin Police Officers Corporal Quint Wayne Sebek #3454 and Officer Douglas Ellis #6966 assaulting a handcuffed, black, homeless woman in Caritas on 6th and Neches. Observing and then joining in on the assault is Officer Jeffery Aumada Rodriguez #6977. You’ll also see Officer Zachary Scott Baldridge #7042 and Sergeant Thomas Hugonnett #2568 standing around watching the woman being abused. SGT Hugonnett is the supervisor of the gang of thug cops.

According to the information we gathered the police claimed they had probable cause to arrest the woman because she allegedly littered near the Arch. While littering is a ticketable offense, SGT Hugonnett thought it would be more appropriate to arrest the woman and throw her in jail for the night than to ticket her. This is part of the city’s continued war on the homeless. While walking to Caritas, Officer Baldridge gave an illegal order telling the photojournalist that he had to stand back for no logical reason other than preventing him from effectively filming the situation.

And when the photojournalist filmed through the window of Caritas, it made sense why the cops wanted him to stand back. They don’t mind assaulting people on camera, but they prefer to do it off camera.

Cops are terrorist scum. The Austin Police in particular are terrorist scum who target people of color and the homeless. This woman was unfortunately both black and homeless. The City of Austin’s war on the homeless must end. If there were any “good” cops in Austin they’d be going after other cops before they went after those who are the weakest.

Originally filmed by Lizzardo Giganticus. His YouTube channel can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC799Js51k__8lGA5WR1tdVw

7 Comments

  • u dirty ass law breaking pigs will get whats coming to u one day !fuck the police

  • This lady in pink PJs did not deserve to be beaten for littering. The streets are full of litter. There is a nightly litter crew with multiple automatic-sweepers. So what’s the deal with litter? It’s not an issue.

    What is an issue is cops like Cpl. Sebek and Sgt. Huggonet beating up the poor. People deserve peace and respect.

    These cops deserve to get their asses beat. Maybe they will go to pirons some day for their crimes? They have many people inside that want to talk to them personally. Good riddance, bad cops!

    APD..violent and dangerous racist cops, all day all night and no police accountability or real leadership in Austin.

    Keep filming…I did.

    Bear witness.

    • Thank you for filming! If only more people would.

      • For realz.

  • Are all these incidents at night, or have you found them happening during the day as well?

    • Yes we have – we just don’t film in the day very often.

    • Day or night. Still going on a year later.
      Lets all film these cops.

      Contact me if you are interested.

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