One incident occurred on July 4, 2020, and involved a driver by the name of
Joe Sanchez. Mr. Sanchez was attempting to travel down the I-35 frontage road that
was open to vehicle traffic. Sgt. Perry attempted to introduce a picture of an incident
involving Mr. Sanchez as well as a video.4 Sgt. Perry also made an offer of proof of
Mr. Sanchez’s testimony. During that incident, Mr. Foster blocked Mr. Sanchez’s car
from proceeding on the public street by standing in front of it with his girlfriend in
a wheelchair, and then protestors swarmed Mr. Sanchez’s car. Mr. Sanchez was
prepared to testify that Mr. Foster attempted to intimidate him and that he was
terrified by Mr. Foster’s actions as well as the actions of Mr. Foster’s fellow
protestors.
A second incident occurred on June 27, 2020, and involved Logan Bucknam
who was driving as a Door Dash driver. Sgt. Perry attempted to introduce a picture
of the incident as well as a video and wanted to call Mr. Bucknam as a defense
witness.5 In that incident, Mr. Bucknam was driving on a public street outside the
Austin Police Department Headquarters, but, when he passed Mr. Foster who was
attempting to block the street by using his girlfriend’s wheelchair, the protestors
swarmed Mr. Bucknam’s car. Mr. Bucknam was so terrified that he pulled a handgun
he kept in his vehicle. When the protestors stopped their assault on Mr. Bucknam’s
vehicle as a result of him being forced to display his handgun, Mr. Bucknam drove
to the safety of the Austin Police garage with protestors running after his car and
surrounding the outside of the garage.
Another exhibit Sgt. Perry had attempted to introduce at trial was a picture of
Mr. Foster, taken on June 27, 2020, where Mr. Foster blocked a black SUV from
proceeding on a public street by standing in front of it with his girlfriend in a
wheelchair.
n addition to these incidents, Sgt. Perry attempted to introduce a video from
June 27, 2020, in which a black truck attempted to make a right-hand turn from the
I-35 frontage road onto a street near Austin Police Department Headquarters.7 Rather
than allowing the truck to turn onto the public street, Jeremy Lett, who admittedly
kicked Sgt. Perry’s car on July 25, 2020, attacked the grill of the truck with a flag
pole.
the protestors did not swarm Sgt. Perry’s car because they were intimidated by Sgt.
Perry’s car, but rather to intimidate Sgt. Perry just like they attempted to intimidate
motorists on June 27, 2020, and July 4, 2020. Likewise, the excluded evidence would
have helped show that Sgt. Foster did not approach Sgt. Perry’s car to protect his
fellow protestors, but rather, approached Sgt. Perry to attempt to intimidate him just
like he attempted to intimidate Joe Sanchez and others.