The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.ĪUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT TURNS TO AI AS STAFFING CRISIS LOOMS 'HUGE' PARTS OF AUSTIN LEFT 'UNPOLICED' AFTER CITY CONTRACT FIGHT TRIGGERS MASS OFFICER EXODUSĪ member of the Austin, Texas, police department stands watch during the Gold Cup semifinal match between the United States and Qatar.Īustin’s city council slashed the police budget in 2020 amid the George Floyd riots across the country and has been mired in a situation where police staffing has plummeted and not recovered even though funding was restored after the state stepped in.Īdditionally, the low morale and a recent move by the city council to abandon a previously agreed upon police contract with the city has sparked a wave of police retirements.ĭespite the staffing crisis, Austin’s newly elected Democratic Mayor Kirk Watson recently assured the public that the department would be 'fully staffed' during the annual SXSW festival, which was taking place on March 18 when the Purcifuls were struck by the suspected drunk driver. Purciful says that the 'first thing' a bus driver on the scene told her was that the man 'smells like alcohol' and was 'refusing to get out of the car.'

The military family quickly realized the driver, a male in his 70s, was intoxicated. 'Head on, didn’t hit the brakes, airbags deployed, screaming kids, smoke, adrenaline, we started screaming, and got the kids out of the car,' Purciful told Fox News Digital about the crash. after a day at the aquarium when a male driver cut across two lanes of traffic and slammed into them head-on. Purciful said she was driving with her husband Dustin and two children down Jollyville Road in North Austin at around 4 p.m. Lacey Purciful told Fox News Digital the family called 911 five times after the March 18 crash, but the severely understaffed police department left them waiting. A couple hit head on by a suspected drunk driver in Austin, Texas, said it took 2.5 hours for police to respond to the crash – allowing the driver to sober up and avoid charges.

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