Memo: HPD chief Art Acevedo stands by indicted officer accused of excessive force

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo is standing by his officer and the internal probe that cleared him of an allegation of excessive force during a 2017 arrest, according to an internal memo.

Acevedo wrote in a department-wide email last Friday that he “personally reviewed and approved” the internal affairs probe into Officer Shane Privette whose handling of an arrest that left a drug dealer with a black eye and bruises to his cheek and forehead is now a criminal investigation. The review ended in July 2018 and Privette was “exonerated” of wrongdoing, according to HPD records.

The chief said he reviewed the internal affairs case again on Friday and “reaffirmed that the response to resistance used during this arrest was within policy and appropriate to bring an uncooperative resisting suspect into custody, ” the email read.

The results of the internal affairs investigation that Acevedo initially reviewed were at some point handed to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, which on June 26 assembled a grand jury that ultimately decided to indict Privette on the charge of aggravated assault of a public servant.

Privette is accused of kneeing Dwayne Walker in the face in an attempt to restrain him during an undercover operation on Nov. 14 that led to his arrest. The injuries were visible in a photo taken of Walker as he was booked into the Harris County Jail after spending about two days at Ben Taub Hospital.

Privette was uniformed and in a marked patrol vehicle at the time of the arrest.

“As law enforcement officers who have sworn an oath to serve and protect we know efforts to effect arrests involving suspects actively resisting can be unsettling and unpleasant,” Acevedo wrote. “This, however, does not mean the response to resistance was not justified and within policy.”

The chief continued the email by saying he agreed with the internal decision to clear Privette of possible excessive force.

He said the arrest involved “a parole violator actively resisting arrest.”

As a copy of the email surfaced late Wednesday, Acevedo issued a statement saying that he believes the officer’s actions will be found justified as the case progresses in the courts.

“I am hopeful and confident when a seasoned prosecutor and use-of-force expert reviews the facts of this case, I expect they will concur with our finding that the use of force was objectively reasonable,” Acevedo wrote in a text message.

Houston Police Officers’ Union president Joe Gamaldi has argued that Privette did nothing wrong during the arrest and that the officer’s use of his knee was “acceptable within department procedures.” The officer struck Walker with his knee once in the torso and again to the head in an attempt to apprehend him, according to Gamaldi’s account of what happened during the arrest.