Family photos of Nathaniel Sanders, shot and killed by an Austin police officer.

my comment to all of this is..it was clearly personal as to why the officer shot both of the men which i know one of which was shot and associated with the one that was killed..it's mighty funny how all of the dashcam's of the officers involved were off!! except one, i'm not understanding that it's senseless

There's only one dashcam in cop cars boo!

u must b white!

Yeah, someone must be white if they aren't supporting a two-bit hood who got shot for being stupid. Pulling the race card is any easy, lazy way for someone to argue. Grow up.

brianna miller wrote:

my comment to all of this is..it was clearly personal as to why the officer shot both of the men which i know one of which was shot and associated with the one that was killed..it's mighty funny how all of the dashcam's of the officers involved were off!! except one, i'm not understanding that it's senseless

Are you stupid, or what? Why would you go on a public forum and declare you know these dirtbags? They most likely got what was coming to them. If it proves to be a terrible mistake, I'll come back on with an apology.

Although there are certainly cases in which police officers use extreme force without proper cause, I believe in this case, Officer Quintana was put in a life-threatening situation and reacted within the bounds of APD protocol. It is very sad that Sanders was killed, but it is also unfortunate that Quintana was put in a situation that required a split-second decision to protect his own life.

I base this opinion on the following facts:

I would like to reiterate that Nathanial Sanders had previously been arrested on two felony charges within six months, including a charge that he'd robbed someone at an ATM on Sixth Street just four days before he was killed.
Furthermore, he pulled a gun on a police officer, which I believe was incredibly unwise and made him a direct threat to Quintana, who was doing his job.
The fact that Sanders was a convicted felon is important when reviewing this case because it shows what kind of judgment Sanders used in the past.

The claims that Quintana did not use APD protocol for waking up a suspect by "using bull horns or sirens" is false. I have researched this claim and it is NOT a requirement to use such measures in this circumstance by APD standards.

I do agree that Quintana should have turned on his camera prior to stepping out of his patrol car. This is APD protocol but I do not believe, given all the information known on Quintana, that he did so intentionally. I have been on many "ride-alongs" with the APD because I was interested in seeing how the officers treat suspects. I was amazed to see how much multi-tasking police have to do while on duty and although I do not excuse Quintana's failure to turn on his police camera, I can understand how it could happen. This is the only part of the case where I find Quintana in the wrong.

The insinuation that Quintana's motivation behind the shootings was due to the fact that the men were minorities seems to be a moot point because Quintana is a minority himself. In his 8 years of service Quintana had never shot any other suspect and did not, as far as I can tell from his record, show favoritism toward any race.

I also would like to point out that Quintana is a highly decorated veteran officer. He has received the superior service citation, the Commanders’ Recognition award, and the CMT Campaign Ribbon for his service in the department’s riot control unit. He was an employee of the year finalist in 2008 and was named the 100 Club of Central Texas Officer of the Year in 2003.
Quintana’s supervisor, Sgt. Zumwalt, described Quintana as “the hardest working officer on the shift” and “an asset to the department.”

I don't believe an officer such as Quintana would use deadly force against a suspect unless he was fearful for the safety of his own life. Most officers after a shooting are suspended from service for months, are portrayed as the stereotypical "evil cop" in the media and as a result face harassment and are sometimes fired. A man like Quintana would not have chosen these possible consequences unless he felt it necessary.

I thrive to be an open minded person and try my best to refrain from forming an opinion until I have received all the information surrounding the event in question. I will say, however, that as it stands with the information I have reviewed, Quintana reacted as many police officers, black, white, or brown, would have in a life-threatening situation.

Right or wrong the people of Austin are a little safer with this violent criminal in the ground. He will not be able to sell crack, rob, or assault anyone AGAIN... I use the word AGAIN as that was his chosen "line of work" before pulling a gun on a police officer.

Lets be honest...this kind of stuff happens when people are up to no good.

I've noticed that since the November elections that black people love to 'claim' our new president, but I've also noticed that the same folks are unwilling to accept his message. Mr. Obama speaks often of the lack of parental responsibility in the black community. I believe Nate Sanders is a case in point. Officer Quintana didn't help him to become a two time felon at age 18. Regardless of who was right or wrong in his shooting death, the question that begs to be answered is this: Who failed this boy? What kind of upbringing leads a child to be asleep in the parking lot of a criminally active apartment complex while high on alcohol, cocaine and xanax with a gun in his belt?
Officer Quintana is a man that has put himself through the grueling trials of police training to dedicate his life to serve this community. He's a guy that has made the good choices and the hard sacrifices. Don't blame him. Don't blame race. Blame the reasons Nate Sanders was in that car under those circumstances. Blame the obvious lack of guidance in his life.

bizzie-boddie wrote:

u must b white!

oooo... great comment! did you work hard on that? does your head hurt now?

The "lawyer" Mr. Ambulance Chaser claims the tox report helps their case because it proves the dead VIOLENT CRIMINAL FELON was "out of it", so I guess he's saying that it is ok to pull a gun on a cop if you are on weed, Xanax, and I think it was one other substance in his blood.
Again it is too bad that he wasn't killed by another gang banging piece of crap because then the NAACP would shut their own rascist mouth, let's never make it about breaking the law let's spin it into something else whenever possible, Nelson Linder should be out there fighting the gangs and drug dealers instead of the police officers trying to make it safer for LAW ABIDING CITIZENS that do NOT go around selling crack, robbing, and assaulting people... NAACP WAKE UP!!!!

brianna miller wrote:

my comment to all of this is..it was clearly personal as to why the officer shot both of the men which i know one of which was shot and associated with the one that was killed..it's mighty funny how all of the dashcam's of the officers involved were off!! except one, i'm not understanding that it's senseless

Yeah Brianna, It was "clearly personal" when this violent thug pulled a gun on the citizen at the ATM.
And it was "clearly personal" when this punk was discharging his weapon at the apartment complex motivating a resident who feared for their safety to make a "clearly personal" complaint to the police.
And it was "clearly personal" when this thug's momma raised him to hate, defy and to attack law officers- setting him up to be killed attempting to use deadly force on an officer.
His family cries that they "lost him" when he caused himself to be shot.
No, they actually "lost him" when they raised him with poor supervision, taught him to disrespect the law and other citizen's rights by their own disrespectful example. We saw plenty of that expressed in the street that day.
What was the officer supposed to do when this known-to-be armed felon who threatened others with a GUN reached for a gun??
-Offer him a Boy Scouts application??
-give him a warm fuzzy hug??
He asked for it. It’s HIS OWN FAULT. Like the sad people who throw themselves in front of a train. Blame the conductor?? Say,“He shoulda handled it differently” No, they started a process that caused their own death. Just like this misguided kid did.
His family upbringing and peers and his own bad choices killed him. His violent end was written by himself and them.
Officer Quintana just was the unfortunate one driving the train that day.

ya'll pepole dont have to be funny with this , hell he was just a kid ,quit acting like when ya'll was a young man or woman that ya'll was perfect, shit no body's perfect but god and that's why who ever commit sin's will either pay for it on earth or in front of our creator.so stop thinking that one race is better than the other , because life is short and we all need to live and let live.peace. christopher f. jones

Youre right..nobody is perfect..but not everyone did what he did and had a family that tried acting like he was a f'n angel.

jo blo wrote:

<quoted text>
Yeah Brianna, It was "clearly personal" when this violent thug pulled a gun on the citizen at the ATM.
And it was "clearly personal" when this punk was discharging his weapon at the apartment complex motivating a resident who feared for their safety to make a "clearly personal" complaint to the police.
And it was "clearly personal" when this thug's momma raised him to hate, defy and to attack law officers- setting him up to be killed attempting to use deadly force on an officer.
His family cries that they "lost him" when he caused himself to be shot.
No, they actually "lost him" when they raised him with poor supervision, taught him to disrespect the law and other citizen's rights by their own disrespectful example. We saw plenty of that expressed in the street that day.
What was the officer supposed to do when this known-to-be armed felon who threatened others with a GUN reached for a gun??
-Offer him a Boy Scouts application??
-give him a warm fuzzy hug??
He asked for it. It’s HIS OWN FAULT. Like the sad people who throw themselves in front of a train. Blame the conductor?? Say,“He shoulda handled it differently” No, they started a process that caused their own death. Just like this misguided kid did.
His family upbringing and peers and his own bad choices killed him. His violent end was written by himself and them.
Officer Quintana just was the unfortunate one driving the train that day.

AMEN!

chris jones wrote:

ya'll pepole dont have to be funny with this , hell he was just a kid ,quit acting like when ya'll was a young man or woman that ya'll was perfect, shit no body's perfect but god and that's why who ever commit sin's will either pay for it on earth or in front of our creator.so stop thinking that one race is better than the other , because life is short and we all need to live and let live.peace. christopher f. jones

Oh please, Chris! I don't know many kids who commit robberies, do drugs, and carry an unauthorized gun. Sorry, Chris, but the race card does not apply here. The police officer is a minority.

Oh please, Chris! I don't know many kids who commit robberies, do drugs, and carry an unauthorized gun. Sorry, Chris, but the race card does not apply here. The police officer is a minority.

This is one less gang-banger, dirtbag we have to worry about. Good riddance!

OMG ! ya serious ? this was my friends brother ! this is ridiculous ! NONE OF YA WERE THERE ! ; he was not a gangbanger he was juss a regular 18 year kid! he was sleepin in the back seat of the car because they were out partien that night. the guy who was driving the car was trying to drive them to the apartment so they can be in bed & sleep right.! is there anything wrong w. that ? ii really dont think so ; there were plenty of people who saw what happened so before you guys talk check the facts first. ya sit here and call people dirtbags that ya dont even know ;; clear ya;s mind up cause all of you are ignorant & this is hurting the families of that boy who got shot and killed a.k.a MY FRIENDS BROTHER ! so shut ya's mouth && who ever stated facts is awesome && the ones who juss come on here to talk crap about a guys they dont know can goo dO themselves & swallow your words.

An 18 year old who behaves like this dead one did and who has the record this dead one did is what you call a "regular 18 year old"? What kind of looser are you? And you call other people ignorant?
It never ceases to amaze me that someone like this is killed then all his friends, family members, and neighbors want to say he was just a "good boy" and say he didn't do anything wrong. That's whats ignorant.
If you knew him so well being that he was your friend's brother then you more than any of us must know that he was a person who made a habit of making one wrong choice after another. Maybe the rest of his "friends" can learn from the mistakes he made over and over again and straighten yourselves up and live like what the rest of the world considers "normal 18 year olds" or it will just be a matter of time before before the next one dies, then the next, then the next...