A Travis County grand jury indicted a Texas Department of Public Safety state trooper for shooting a fleeing suspect in North Austin in 2023.
Trooper Jason Tye faces a charge of aggravated assault by a public servant with a deadly weapon. His case could go to a Travis County jury, and, if convicted, Tye could face anywhere from five to 99 years in prison.
Travis County District Attorney José Garza said his office presented "all facts and evidence" to the grand jury that decided to indict Tye on the felony charge.
“In this case, an independent group of members of the Travis County community heard the evidence and law and decided that Trooper Tye’s conduct was unlawful," he said.
Tye pulled over Elijah Barrientos off North Park Drive, just east of MoPac in July 2023. Barrientos fled and Tye shot him. The trooper also faces a civil rights lawsuit in federal court from Barrientos.
The civil lawsuit alleges Tye shot Barrientos as he tried to climb a fence and that Barrientos presented no threat to Tye.
Garza's office has previously leveled the same charge against law enforcement officers. The district attorney's office charged nearly two dozen Austin police officers with aggravated assault by a public servant with a deadly weapon for their response to demonstrations in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd and the police shooting of Mike Ramos. Those charges were later dropped.
The Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas, the state's largest police union, condemned Garza's broad push to indict officers, saying the union is prepared to defend Tye's action in court.
CLEAT Executive Director Robert Leonard called Barrientos a "career criminal," pointing to a long rap sheet with charges related to drug and unlawful firearm possession.
"Garza is a continued danger to the residents of Travis County as well as the law enforcement officers sworn to protect and uphold the law,” Leonard said. “We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again… the revolving door of justice is placing our law enforcement officers in great danger, and this is being perpetuated at an unprecedented level by Garza and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.”
Barrientos' criminal history stretches back to 2008, according to Travis County court records. He's currently facing charges after an arrest earlier this month for drug possession. He's due in court for those six charges, which include fleeing arrest, later this month.
