Bystander Na’Kole Curry, who was shot in the eye by APD, said the injury has given her a permanent disability and cost her her military career.
AUSTIN, Texas — The city of Austin on Monday filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a woman who was shot in the eye by police on Sixth Street in December 2023.
Fort Hood woman Na’Kole Curry filed the suit in September against the Austin Police Department, the city of Austin, Soho Lounge – where the incident happened – and at least 10 unnamed officers. She said she suffered a life-altering injury at the age of 24 that cost her her military career.
The incident began when police said a man tried to get inside the Sixth Street bar with a gun. The man pointed the gun in the direction of police and bystanders after he was approached by APD, which reportedly led to the shooting.
Curry said she was hit in her right eye by a stray bullet, causing permanent blindness in the eye. Along with her, two other people were injured in the crossfire. Her lawsuit alleges the officers involved in the incident were “unreasonable under the circumstances” to use deadly force in a crowded area with many innocent bystanders in the vicinity.
“It all happened so fast,” she told KVUE in September. “Literally the last thing I remember was handing my ID card to security, and then I woke up in the hospital.”
In their motion to dismiss the case, attorneys for the city disputed claims APD’s training policies were inadequate.
“There is no probative allegation that any specific City of Austin policy, in the form of a formal policy statement or an informal custom or practice of similar constitutional violations, directly caused the alleged excessive use of force,” city attorneys said. “There is no specific identification of what the City of Austin improperly trained its officers to do as related to this specific incident.”
The city’s motion also denied the relevancy of four APD cases cited in the lawsuit as evidence of “excessive force and endangerment of innocent bystanders.” Attorneys for the city said none of the officers in the 2023 shooting were involved in those cases, which happened between 2017 and 2020.
“There is no allegation that any of the officers involved in the other incidents described were involved in any respect with Plaintiff’s incident, specifically including discharge of their weapons, during the incident at issue,” the city’s attorneys wrote. “Even as described by Plaintiff, none of the incidents reflect circumstances even remotely like the incident alleged to be at issue such that they would have put the City of Austin Police Department on notice that different training and/or policies were needed to avoid the incident alleged.”
Curry’s attorney told KVUE he is reviewing the city’s motion and plans to respond soon.