According to the parents of 19-year-old Zachary Anam, footage from inside an Austin police car shows an officer mocked their son and dismissed his suicidal thoughts moments before Anam fatally shot himself in the back of the vehicle Jan. 8, 2017.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday against the city of Austin on behalf of the Anams says officer Iven Wall told Anam, who had been detained for alleged shoplifting at Barton Creek Square mall, that he would "spend the rest of (his) life behind bars" and “dude, you’re no good at being a criminal." A few blocks from the jail, Anam asked Wall, “Officer, if I’m feeling suicidal, now is the time to tell you, right?” and Wall responded, "They'll take care of you at the jail," the lawsuit says.

According to the suit, Anam replied, “I don’t know if I’m going to make it” before telling Wall, “I have a loaded firearm to my head, officer."

Anam pulled a gun from his waistband, and Wall got out of the vehicle, police have said. Five minutes later, Anam pulled the trigger. He was hospitalized and died later that day, officials have said.

Attorney Jeff Edwards, who is representing the Anams, said the in-car footage shows police failed to keep Zachary safe while he was in their custody. But Austin police officials say the public won't have a chance to view the video and hear Wall's and Zachary's exchange on the ride to the jail.

The video will "never be released," Austin police spokeswoman Lisa Cortinas told the American-Statesman on Thursday. Austin police officials cited a ruling from the state attorney general's office that said the Austin Police Department can withhold records related to the case.

Edwards declined to say how his firm obtained that video and declined to release it.

The Police Department's refusal to release the footage follows a pattern of police officials across the state who indefinitely withhold records and video in cases that don't result in a conviction, including in-custody deaths like Anam's. Since 1997, a state statute has excluded from public view "information that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime only in relation to an investigation that did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication," a Statesman investigation found.



In Mesquite, police officials refused to released case records in the 2013 in-custody death of 18-year-old Graham Dyer to his parents, the Statesman found. Outside his hospital room, officers told the Dyers that their son died from serious injuries he had inflicted on himself inside a police cruiser as they drove him to jail.

The Dyers eventually got video footage through a records request to the FBI, which reviewed the case. Video showed a Mesquite police officer standing with his foot on Graham's head, and another one shocking Graham's testicles with a stun gun.



Wall, who had patted down Anam and was driving when the teen pulled out the gun, was suspended for 20 days after the 2017 incident. Wall's disciplinary memo, released five months after Anam's death, does not mention any exchange between the two. The memo only says the officer did not conduct a full search of Anam and that he violated search and evidence collection policies.



"Officer Wall conveyed his substantial regrets for his mistakes, while voluntarily expressing a desire to speak at the police academy to future cadet classes, to prevent such a tragic reoccurrence," the memo says.

Austin police officials did not comment on the Anams' lawsuit saying they do not comment on ongoing litigation.

According to the lawsuit, Wall's mistake demonstrates "deficient, inadequate and dangerous training — or lack of training."



"Despite this disturbing pattern of incidents, APD policymakers did not implement new, different, or additional training to ensure that officers conducted reasonable searches to discover weapons," the lawsuit says.

From 2013 to 2016, arresting officers failed almost 50 times to find weapons that were later discovered on suspects at the Travis County Jail, a Statesman review of jail records showed.