Police Change Accounts in Austin Beating Probe: Authorities Say the Killing Was Done By 3 or 4, Not

Jun 22, 05:18 AM

Current Headlines: By Polly Ross Hughes, Houston Chronicle

Jun. 22--AUSTIN -- Strained race relations between police and minorities on Austin's east side, fueled by ongoing controversies over excessive use of force, could stymie efforts to solve the beating death of a Hispanic man this week, a civil rights attorney said Thursday.

Conflicting official versions of events by city police and other officials only seemed to make things worse, said Jim Harrington of the Texas Civil Rights Project.

No arrests have been made, and police continued pleading for witnesses to come forward.

City officials, eager to downplay any connection between the death and a large city-sponsored Juneteenth celebration nearby, admitted to issuing contradictory reports of events from the start.

They insisted Thursday they were wrong to imply a mob of Juneteenth partygoers had erupted to kill David Rivas Morales, 40, after a car he was riding in struck a child at a housing project parking lot.

Rather, they insisted only 12 to 20 individuals were involved in the parking lot incident with perhaps four committing the fatal beating.

The crime scene was isolated from the official Juneteenth celebration, they said. As many as 200 arrived only after police lights fueled curiosity.

Yet, 911 dispatches released late Thursday by emergency services raise questions about even the latest "official" version of events.

The initial 911 call at 9:31 p.m. Tuesday came from a woman who reported, "We've got a gang fight going on."

The caller said that the Juneteenth celebration at nearby Rosewood Park was the source of the unruly crowd.

"You know the park where they're having the big (event) there? Well, everybody came up on this side, and they're fighting up here on this side," said the caller, identifying the intersection next to the housing project.

911 tape is withheld The Austin Police Department refused to release its own 911 tape, saying it is part of the ongoing investigation.

"I know there's a lot of unhappiness with the way the police dealt with it publicly," Harrington said.

"This is the quintessential example of what happens when you don't have good relationships between minorities and police. It makes it quite difficult to solve crimes," he added.

For Austin officials, events surrounding Morales' death appear especially sensitive.

Nearly three weeks ago, officials announced the U.S. Justice Department would investigate policies and practices of the Austin police in training for the use of force and documenting incidents.

"Bring it on. We have nothing to hide," acting Police Chief Cathy Ellison said. "We are an open department, and we are one of the best police departments in the country."

Two days later, a police officer shot Kevin Alexander Brown, a 25-year-old black man, twice in the back. Brown died, as did an 18-year-old Hispanic man, Daniel Rocha, shot by police in the summer of 2005.

Harrington said city officials are cringing about how Morales' death was played in international news reports. It was the Austin Police Department, after all, that tied the incident in its initial news release to 3,000 individuals celebrating the Juneteenth holiday nearby.

Later Wednesday, Austin police Cmdr. Harold Piatt told the Houston Chronicle that the beating death of Morales was not a hate crime or racially motivated in any way.

"I don't think anyone knows that at this point," Harrington said. "Who knows if the people who killed him were motivated by race?"

Police on Thursday identified the child accidentally hit by the Ford Taurus that Morales had been riding in as Michael Hosea Jr., 2. He was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

They said shortly after the car bumped the boy in the parking lot, the driver of the car was attacked by several people. When Morales came to the driver's defense, the crowd turned on him, knocking him to the ground. A man in a red Buick Roadmaster, or possibly a Cadillac, then got out and assaulted Morales again.

"We're looking at three or four heinous criminals," Assistant Police Chief David Carter said. "I want to bring them to justice. In order to do that, I need help from the community."

'Afraid' to come forward Yet help has been slow in coming because members of the black community fear the police, said Nelson Linder, president of the NAACP in Austin.

People in their 20s were celebrating outside the housing project and likely were drinking, Linder said he was told.

Things got out of hand, he heard, because there was a perception the driver was trying to flee after hitting a child.

"Let's face it. There's a very intense effort to find out who was there," Linder said. "The folks who saw some of this stuff are afraid of coming forward.

"If you were there, and you saw this and didn't stop it, that's also a problem," Linder said. "They're afraid of retaliation."

" ... The large systemic racism in this problem is the fact there's been this historical breakdown over a long period of time between the police and the black community."

Austin Bureau reporter Janet Elliott contributed to this report.

polly.hughes@chron.com

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