Houston Watch reported last week that former Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo had resigned from his role as the Aurora, Colorado, police chief and announced that he’s headed back to Texas. The abrupt timing of the announcement, which correlated with John Whitmire’s taking the reins at city hall, led some local political observers to suspect that Whitmire would appoint Acevedo, with whom he has a “best of friends” relationship, to be Houston’s new police chief.
Well, hold on to your hat. In the week since we hit publish on the post, Acevedo found a job in Austin, lost a job in Austin, became embroiled in a new video scandal, cost the city of Houston another $1.7 million dollars in legal fees related to an older scandal, and—is now Texas bound and back on the job market.
Here’s a timeline with the information you need to know in case Acevedo sets his sights on returning to The Bayou City:
1/16/2024. Acevedo abruptly resigns as Aurora Police Chief after a brisk 13 month stint. He announced his intention to return to Texas the same day.
1/19/2024. Austin City Manager Jesús Garza hired Acevedo in a newly created role as assistant city manager responsible for “overseeing” and “helping” the Austin Police Department.
1/19/2024 - 1/23/2024. In the four days following the announcement, the city erupts in opposition to Acevedo:
Members of the city council making public statements vowing to block Acevedo from this new position and with some members suggesting that a vote of no confidence for the City Manager Jesús Garza—who hired Acevedo—was not out of the question;
Sexual assault survivors pen an open letter outraged by Acevedo’s new assignment, then hold—joined by the Travis County District Attorney—hold a press conference opposing his appointment.
Civic leaders protest and flyer outside of City Hall, highlighting Acevedo’s scandal-plagued record including the fact that Acevedo took what the Los Angeles Times described as “sexually explicit Polaroid photographs” of a fellow police officer who later sued him in federal court for $5 million, claiming, again according to the Los Angeles Times, that Acevedo kept the photos in the glove box of his government-issued vehicle and showed them to other colleagues in law enforcement.
1/23/2024.
Early: Acevedo announces he will not take the role in Austin after all.
Mid-Day: Just hours after Acevedo’s announcement, Max Levy, a reporter with the Colorado Sentinel published a video on X (pictures below), formerly known as Twitter, that might shed light on why Acevedo abruptly resigned as the Aurora Police Chief last week. The video shows “an altercation that took place between Aurora's now-former interim chief of police, Art Acevedo, and Pete Schulte of the Aurora City Attorney's Office [where] Acevedo [is] holding Schulte by the collar of his jacket as the two walk into Aurora's Municipal Court on the 12th. After that, they enter the rotunda and Acevedo gets increasingly agitated while talking to Schulte, appearing to poke him twice in the chest.” Notably, this video was captured in the morning of “the same day [Aurora] City Manager Jason Batchelor says Acevedo told him he was leaving,” according to Levy.
Evening. “The Houston City Council has approved another $1.7 million to defend the city and former Police Chief Art Acevedo in a federal lawsuit over a fatal drug raid. The additional funding brings the city’s lawsuit costs to more than $2.9 million.” the Houston Chronicle reported today. Also per the Chronicle, “Acevedo was scheduled to give a deposition in the case at a Denver law office Wednesday morning [e.g. today], according to the most recent court filing.”
Here’s a deeper dive into Art Acevedo’s scandal-plagued record.