
Associated Press - November 5, 2009 9:05 AM ET
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - An Austin police officer is suspended for 15 days for not turning on his patrol car camera during an altercation in which a teen was fatally shot.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo says the unpaid suspension began Thursday for Officer Leonardo Quintana. Acvedeo determined the May 11 shooting did not constitute excessive force.
A Travis County grand jury in August declined to indict Quintana over the shooting of the armed suspect, 18-year-old Nathaniel Sanders II.
The suspension was because Quintana violated policy by not turning on the dashboard camera before approaching Sanders.
Police have said Quintana fired at Sanders after the pair struggled over a weapon that the suspect had in his waistband. Sanders had been asleep in a car that police had investigated as being involved in several crimes.
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