UPDATE: October 6th 2024- After lengthy deliberation, the jury found Officer Chris Taylor guilty of deadly conduct. We are working with Officer Taylor’s legal team and will begin working on his appeal after his sentencing, which will take place on October 15th. Please continue to keep Chris and his family in your thoughts and prayers as he continues to fight against an anti-cop system and a leftist radical DA that is trying to make an example out of him and his case. We have and will continue to stand by Officer Taylor!
UPDATE: Officer Taylor has another trial date set to begin on Sept 23, 2024. They dropped the murder charge and kept the Deadly Conduct which is a 3rd degree felony for the charge involving the OIS of a man in 2019.
This is going to be the third time this case has gone to trial. His first trial was a mistrial because they ran out of jurors to pick from. His second trial also ended in a mistrial because of a hung jury (8-4 for not a guilty verdict).
On July 31, 2019, Officer Christopher Taylor and other officers were called to a high-rise apartment
complex where scared residents had reported that a man was stalking the halls with a large knife, menacing people.
When they arrived, the front desk clerk and the security guard told them that the suspect had been in the lobby with a knife to his neck, but now he was upstairs in his apartment. Chris felt that since the suspect was in his apartment, he was contained and not an immediate threat to anyone. So he called for more officers as backup.
While they were putting together a plan, the security guard told them the suspect had left his apartment with the large knife. The suspect was no longer contained, and now he was a threat to
everyone in the building.
In fact, the suspect went to the fifth floor, where all residents can access the gym and the pool, and was acting erratically while wielding his large knife. The urgency of stopping the knife-wielding
suspect was skyrocketing by the second.
Chris decided that they would go up the elevator and intercept the dangerous suspect. Chris, the security guard, and three other police officers took the elevator up to the fifth floor. When the elevator doors opened, they saw the suspect standing in a narrow hallway holding the knife.
He was maybe six feet away from them, and they were jam-packed in an elevator with nowhere to retreat.
Chris told the knife-wielding man, “Let me see your hands,” and other officers began ordering the knife-wielding man to drop the knife. Instead, the knife-wielding man moved toward Chris and his fellow
officers in the elevator. Chris only had a split-second to react.
In law enforcement, there is something called the 21-foot rule. It says that a suspect with a knife who is closer than 21 feet to you can close that distance and lethally stab you before you can draw your gun…and here Officer Taylor was less than six feet away!
Chris followed his training and fatally wounded the knife-wielding suspect before he could stab Chris and his fellow officers.
After a thorough investigation, the Austin Police Department ruled that Chris was justified in using deadly force. After all, this knife-wielding suspect ignored officers’ commands to drop his weapon and instead moved toward the officers while they were in a confined space.
That should have been the end of it. And it was — for a while. Remember, this happened back in 2019. And after the department cleared Chris of wrongdoing, he put it out of his mind and went on being an excellent cop.
But in 2021, a new socialist District Attorney named José Garza was elected with a radical agenda.
Garza was elected with the backing of convicted felon and ultra-leftist billionaire George Soros, who favors defunding the police and letting criminals out of prison. Garza immediately went on a rampage against
police officers and mined old cases to dredge up charges.
José Garza indicted Chris for murder — a charge that can carry a life sentence in prison if convicted.
Chris was shocked and dismayed. He did everything by the book and had already been cleared.
Even though his police department cleared him, once Garza indicted Officer Chris Taylor, he was suspended without pay — and you can imagine what a financial strain that is. Chris’s wife Amy has stepped up and helped with the family finances, but it’s not enough.
We’re at a dangerous moment for our country. If the attacks on police don’t stop, dangerous criminals will run wild. Please consider donating to Officer Taylor and his family during this difficult time. Trial will start on February 21st, and National Center for Police Defense will continue to stand by his and his family’s side.
