TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — The Travis County District Attorney’s Office has charged a Texas DPS trooper in the 2023 shooting of a man, an action condemned by the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT).
The DA’s office says that a Special Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Texas DPS trooper Jason Tye with Aggravated Assault by a Public Servant with a Deadly Weapon in connection with the shooting of Elijah Barrientos on July 10, 2023.
“The District Attorney’s Office takes the work of presenting all facts and evidence to a grand jury very seriously,” said Travis County District Attorney José Garza. “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.”
Tye, a member of CLEAT, had been involved in a vehicle chase of a wanted felon that developed into a pursuit on foot involving two troopers, the organization says. Tye discharged his firearm in an attempt to apprehend the suspect, who fled into a wooded area, CLEAT says.
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CLEAT also says that that Barrientos was a documented gang member who had been arrested numerous times, once for reaching for a firearm in his waistband while encountering police, and again on drug charges. The organization says that he has four pending felony cases in Travis County.
“How this documented gang member, felon in possession of a firearm, drug dealer was able to roam the streets of Austin is the question we should all be asking. 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,” Robert Leonard, CLEAT Executive Director, 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.”
Tye’s case will be prosecuted by the DA office’s Civil Rights Unit in the 167th District Court for Travis County. CLEAT says that their legal team “stands ready to defend” their member.