Austin police sergeant suspended for not securing January crime scene

AUSTIN, Texas — An Austin Police Division sergeant subjected to an inside affairs investigation relating to an occasion in January was suspended in July, in keeping with officers.

A July 12 memo from Police Chief Joseph Chacon acknowledged that Murder Sgt. Jesse Sanchez uncared for his responsibility on a murder case.

Sanchez didn’t observe the suitable actions to safe a criminal offense scene.

On Jan. 23, round 3 a.m., an individual phoned APD to say a person was down within the roadway at a southeast Austin intersection and two officers responded quickly after, the memo reads. Officer #1 arrived on the hospital the place the sufferer was transported earlier than police arrived on scene.

EMS and fireplace division officers advised officer #1 they have been unsure whether or not the sufferer was assaulted or hit by a automobile. He was pronounced lifeless at 3:38 a.m. Officer #1 later discovered from medical workers they discovered hair clenched in his fist and proof of head trauma, in keeping with the memo.

Officer #2 went to the intersection the sufferer was found. Fireplace crews had already washed the scene earlier than the officer bought there.

At 4:05 a.m., Sgt. Sanchez was knowledgeable to contact officer #1, by which he advised him to launch the scene, mentioned the memo.

Sanchez communicated that detectives wouldn’t be responding to the scene.

Officer #2 bought in contact with Sanchez to loop him into the small print of the scene, saying that blood was seen, together with what may have been blood matter; a damaged van window with blood spatter close by; a stick to blood on it; and a pocket book in addition to particles on the bottom.

Sanchez advised officer #2 the identical factor he knowledgeable the opposite. Officer #2 obliged.

When the afternoon rolled round, inside that very same day, Sanchez known as his detectives to the scene. It was concluded that the sufferer had been killed. A suspect confessed to the crime and was charged with homicide.

Based on the memo, the case remains to be in pending standing.

The memo continues {that a} grievance was filed with Inside Affairs on Feb.9, accusing Sanchez of not correctly processing the crime scene. It was requested to begin an investigation on Sanchez for his negligence.

“Sgt. Sanchez ought to have instantly despatched the On-Name Murder Detectives and the Crime Scene Unit to the scene to hunt out and safe any potential proof. Furthermore, his Chain-of-Command additionally concluded that Sgt. Sanchez launched the crime scene with out having the scene correctly processed, which may have impacted the prosecution of this case,” Chacon mentioned within the memo.

He went on to say that though he’s conscious that the fireplace crew compromised the scene with a wash down, Sanchez’s personal statements and actions ought to have led him to observe by means of with the aforementioned protocol.

On condition that Sanchez had no prior disciplinary actions in opposition to him and accepted full accountability, he was solely suspended from July 13 by means of July 17.