Austin Police Officer Leonardo Quintana was fired for a second time today, less than a week after an arbitrator reinstated him to the force.
The "indefinite suspension" - a bureaucratic formality that amounts to being fired - stems from an alleged domestic dispute at Quintana's home in Leander. Quintana didn't inform his supervisors that he was involved in an incident that required a police response.
The Statesman’s Tony Plohetski obtained a copy of the incident report from Leander Police, and reported in the paper this morning that Quintana's then-fiancée only had reported a verbal dispute, not a physical one.
The past couple years have been turbulent for Quintana. He first came under public scrutiny after the he shot and killed 18-year-old Nathaniel Sanders during an incident in northeast Austin. Quintana was cleared of any wrongdoing. But the internal investigation that cleared him was itself mired in controversy, and a second review was ordered. That external review found Quintana acted recklessly and used excessive deadly force.
APD Chief Acevedo suspended Quintana over the incident. Quintana was later fired after being arrested for DWI in January 2010.
Last week, Quintana got his job back after an independent arbitrator decided Quintana should not have been fired in May for a DWI arrest.
