Get the daily email that brings 100% Austin news, info, and entertainment direct to your inbox
Hiram Garcia, on the right with a white mask, talks to a protester after he is shoved to the ground for live streaming.
After a Kentucky grand jury ruled not to charge two of the three police officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor, protesters across the country took to the streets, including at the Texas Capitol and Austin City Hall to stand against the decision.
The protest, titled "Justice for Breonna Taylor—Solidarity with Louisville," started at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The protest was not organized by a specific group or person, though groups like the Mike Ramos Brigade, a local anti-police organization with ties to antifa, and Back the Blue, a pro-police organization, were present.
Protester Ellie A., who was not affiliated with any group, said she was there to protest for what matters.
"Black lives matter," Ellie said. "That is not apparent from the things that happen in our world."
Shortly after the protest began, a group of protesters attacked Hiram Garcia, an independent streamer who often films protests and "history in the making," by shoving Garcia and his camera to the floor. Some protesters yelled and suggested he leave the protest.
A fight has broken out against Hiram Garcia, an independent streamer. Protesters became physical and tried to knock… https://t.co/MSCmkMy0Ay— Laura Figi (@Laura Figi) 1600908523.0
Garcia, who streams on Facebook Live, said he has been attending protests since May 30 and said people are quick to recognize him.
"They just don't want me here, that's it," Garcia said. "The problem is I'm an unbiased host."
Protest attendee, who goes by the name Shera, has been protesting for racial justice since May and said she has faced dangerous situations, such as being pepper sprayed. Shera said Garcia was generally accepted at first, but while he elects to remain neutral, he has gained a right-wing audience he has yet to denounce.
"(Garcia has) talked to the cops in a way that a lot of the protesters don't like, or just giving them airtime (on the livestream) and loving them—pretty much speaking propaganda," Shera said. "It's okay if they don't want him here but getting physical like that … is just completely uncalled for."
About 45 minutes into the protest, protesters took to West Cesar Chavez Street and blocked traffic. Shortly after, they were followed by multiple police cars, who ordered them to clear out the roads under threat of arrest.
Groups of protesters continued to march through the streets, as several people were arrested. One protester was arrested on 3rd Street and San Jacinto, seen being patted down with zip-tied wrists.
Here on 2nd Street and San Jacinto, a protester is being arrested. An officer said she was being arrested for “thro… https://t.co/xKcMdeYi60— Laura Figi (@Laura Figi) 1600910873.0
Several protesters were arrested for class B and C misdemeanors, according to the Austin Police Department.
Shera said the protests were meant to show solidarity with Louisville and Breonna Taylor, and the ruling was disappointing.
"We are not done," Shera said. "We are still waiting for a lot of justice to be served for the police that have hurt all of the protesters that are out here."
More on protesters:
Austin's amateur sleuths spotlight police violence at BLM protests
- Austin police will no longer use 'less lethal' bean bag ammunition at ... ›
- Protesters injured by Austin police bean bag rounds - austonia ›
- Manley: Two protesters shot by APD with 'less lethal' rounds remain ... ›
- Mounted officers from the Austin Police Department clash with ... ›
- Austin protesters clash with police after Garrett Foster's death ... ›
- Austin braces for election-week unrest - austonia ›
- Austin police prepare for election-week protests - austonia ›
- Election protests could test new Austin police policies - austonia ›
- Protest recap: Austinites rally after election results - austonia ›
- Mike Ramos' mother sues for wrongful death by police - austonia ›
Popular
Former UT tennis coach Michael Center told Sports Illustrated he thinks others were involved in the Varsity Blues scandal at UT.
His name dragged through the mud, Center was fired, arrested by the FBI and sentenced to six months in a Central Texas federal prison after pleading guilty to two charges related to mail fraud. And over a year after his release, Center told Sports Illustrated he doubts he was the only one in burnt orange involved.
When the Varsity Blues scandal broke out to the public in 2019, the investigation was a perfect storm for nationwide attention: Hollywood glamour, blue blood conspiracy and faith in the tried-and-true American education system came to a head as 33 movie stars and other elites were found guilty of paying more than $25 million to pave their children’s way into eight colleges, including the University of Texas.
UT was one of eight schools caught in the college admissions scandal. (Laura Figi/Austonia)
Singer's client, private equity executive Chris Schaepe, was looking for a way to bend UT's tight admissions policies for his son, who was seeking a position oddly as a manager on UT’s basketball team. Through a middleman, Singer contacted Center, who eventually agreed.
Schaepe's son hadn't played tennis since his freshman year of high school. It was a detail that Center says passed through plenty of hands before he was admitted, including "academic support staff, the compliance office, the sports supervisor and, ultimately, the athletic director," SI's Jon Wertheim writes.
No one in the entire athletic department, including seven "risk management and compliant services department" employees, was named, implicated or punished. After an internal investigation, Center was the only one named in the Varsity Blues "subterfuge" in a September 2019 UT news release signed by the university president.
He told Austonia he was never contacted by the university during the investigation, and when the NCAA interviewed him for its investigation, he says it cleared him of any violations.
“I almost fell out of my chair,” Center said. “I literally couldn’t breathe. There’s no college coach in America—much less at a state school, much less a coach of a nonrevenue sport—who can admit an athlete without consulting other people in the athletic department. What they were asking people to believe, it’s just impossible.” SI said Center's assertion was backed by multiple UT coaches and administrators at other schools.
But why would the Forty Acres be complicit?
(Matthew/Adobe)
Center said UT’s then newly named athletic director Steve Patterson made clear that Center suddenly was responsible for more than building a successful tennis program. He was to be a "fundraiser first and coach second" and he would need to find donors to fund a new tennis facility. Patterson admitted to SI that he wanted his coaches to find donors and said the department was "$15 million in the red" when he started in 2013, though he denies any knowledge of the false tennis recruitment.
Center said he knew he would be "considered a team player" if he let in the son of a Silicon Valley magnate. And sure enough, Schaepe immediately began pulling out his wallet, donating $100,000 to UT tennis and a six-figure check to the school's communication program.
"I never entered this as a way to profit. This was a fundraising mission where I made a terrible mistake at the end,"
Center said.
Months after Schaepe's son was admitted, Center agreed to meet Singer at the Austin airport and found himself accepting a backpack filled with $60,000 in cash meant for him, personally. He said he immediately knew he had made a mistake. He told SI “I put the money in my basement and gave most of it away.”
“Why did I do it?” Center told Sports Illustrated. "I go to bed and wake up each day asking myself the same question. I had to convince myself that I somehow deserved the money."
Once in court, Center showed texts with UT's compliance official and mentioned Chris Plonsky, a department executive involved in "overseeing men’s tennis, compliance, academic support (which generates letters of intent) and the Longhorn Foundation," according to SI.
“I knew I had to answer for my guilt,” Center said. “But I was like, 'Man, schools are going to get hammered.'"'
But Center was the only Longhorn to go down for the crimes. “I was no rogue actor,” Center said. “And this wasn’t my word against their word. There were signatures that went along with it. That’s the system... There wasn’t one point in the process where I thought people wanted to learn the whole truth.”
Back at home in Austin, Center watched as actress Felicity Huffman served just eleven days for her part in the scandal. Some served up to five months; others simply paid a fine, and others, like Singer, await sentencing.
And because the prosecution chose to blame individual coaches, framing schools as victims in the case, universities like UT have received less than a slap on the wrist for their possible involvement.
“I was always taught that actions have consequences,” Center said. “What I’ve come to realize is that, yes, for some people actions absolutely do have consequences. Serious, heavy ones. For others, actions can have no consequences at all.”
- Excitement, tensions build as Austin expects 18k fans at first Texas ... ›
- $10 million Austin NIL scholarship fund to help Longhorn athletes ... ›
- UT plans on Longhorns football in fall 2020 - austonia ›
- UT is going SEC! Texas board of regents approves move to future ... ›
- Former UT tennis coach Michael Center in halfway house after ... ›
- Former UT tennis coach Michael Center completes 6-month ... ›
