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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
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Texas Governor Signs Law Banning Reality TV Crews From Filming Police

The legislation was signed into law two years after a Black motorist died while "Live PD" cameras rolled during a car chase through north Austin.

AUSTIN, Texas (CN) – Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law Wednesday evening a ban on reality television crews filming police, two years after Black motorist Javier Ambler died following a car chase captured by “Live PD” cameras.

Titled Javier Ambler’s Law, House Bill 54 went into effect immediately. The bill received bipartisan support in the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature, passing the House of Representatives 110-34 and the Senate 27-3.

Ambler’s family said the Williamson County sheriff deputies who pulled Ambler over were “encouraged to produce exciting reality television instead of simply protecting” the public.

“As a consequence of this unconscionable decision by the county and its sheriff, a beloved father and son was senselessly killed,” the family said in a statement Thursday.

Deputies J.J. Johnson and Zach Camden chased Ambler, 40, through north Austin for 20 minutes after a failure to dim his headlights in March 2019. Body-camera footage released by Austin police show Ambler being dragged out of his car and shot with a Taser four times as police struggle to handcuff him behind his back while on his stomach. Ambler is clearly heard saying “I can’t breathe” several times, as well as “I have congestive heart failure” and “save me” while addressing the officers as “sir.”

Police began telling Ambler to “wake up” and shook him when he became unresponsive. An officer is heard calling for an ambulance as other officers say they are unable to find a pulse.

Calls for criminal charges against the deputies involved in Ambler’s death grew in June 2020 in the wake of heightened public outrage over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Williamson County leaders began to call for the resignation of then-Sheriff Robert Chody over his refusal to cooperate with an investigation into Ambler’s death. Chody refused to step down but lost his reelection bid at the polls five months later.

Williamson County commissioners were so opposed to “Live PD” filming with Chody’s officers that they sued him and the show’s producers last year to halt filming. The lawsuit claims the commissioners terminated an earlier contract with “Live PD” in August 2019, but Chody allegedly signed an “access agreement” to restart filming.

A&E Networks abruptly cancelled “Live PD” one day after it admitted the video it recorded of Ambler’s death had been destroyed. Paramount Network, the producer of long-running reality docuseries “Cops,” also announced the cancellation of its show in response to national protests against the death of Floyd.

Chody was indicted in September on a felony charge of evidence tampering, accused of destroying the “Live PD” video of Ambler’s arrest. He was booked into his own jail and faces between two and 10 years in state prison if convicted.

Deputies Johnson and Camden were indicted two months ago on manslaughter charges. They are each free on $150,000 bail.

Follow @davejourno
Categories / Entertainment, Government, Regional

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