AUSTIN (KXAN) — A 24-year-old woman has filed a lawsuit related to a December 2023 police shooting on Sixth Street.
The shooting happened just before midnight on a Saturday night outside of Soho Lounge on East Sixth Street. Police said a man tried to illegally carry a gun into the bar, so bar security called in the Austin Police Department for backup.
“As officers approached the suspect, the suspect pulled out the firearm and pointed it in the direction of officers and innocent bystanders,” then interim-chief Robin Henderson said at the time. That’s when officers fired.
According to her lawsuit, a bullet hit Nakole Curry in the eye, “causing permanent blindness in her right eye.”
The lawsuit claims not enough was done to de-escalate the situation and avoid gunfire in a busy, crowded area.
“Our officers were faced with an extremely difficult circumstance that required immediate action,” said Austin Police Association president Michael Bullock. “Had they not fired at the suspect, we could have faced a much different outcome where the suspect indiscriminately fired into the crowd potentially striking countless others.
A city spokesperson said staff will review the lawsuit and respond appropriately.
As of Tuesday, the city had not yet received the suit.
The APD officers who fired shots were not charged with any crimes, and the internal investigation into the matter was closed in October 2024, according to an email statement from the department.
Curry is requesting a jury trial. Monetarily speaking, the lawsuit states her “damages against the City of Austin exceed $1 million.”
Curry: ‘The next thing I know, I woke up in the hospital’
Curry said she was out that night with another member of her unit – she was in the military at the time of the shooting.
“I was handing [bar staff] my ID card, and the next thing I know, I woke up in the hospital,” she said. “It literally happened in like the snap of a finger.”
She said the injury caused her the have to medically retire from the military, and she’s struggled to find an equally fulfilling job, because she’s now disabled.
“I feel like since this traumatic event, my life literally shifted. Not just for me but for my daughter,” she said.
Other bystander cases
Just last month, a bystander was shot in the shoulder after he pulled a gunman down at a south Austin strip mall. Police had been tracking the gunman — 33-year-old Raymond Lee Howard — following a string of violent crimes, and the department said Howard pulled the firearm out at Thundercloud Subs before bystander Fernando Martinez took Howard down.
Howard’s gun fired in that moment, police said, and officers ultimately shot and killed him. As this happened, Martinez was struck in the shoulder.
APD is assisting Martinez by circulating his GoFundMe page and connecting him with Victim Services staff, who have the ability to help qualifying individuals access money via the Crime Victims’ Compensation (CVC) Fund through the Attorney General’s Office.
The fund “can help cover expenses related to the crime, including medical bills, counseling, lost wages, emergency medical care, funeral costs, relocation and crime scene clean-up,” APD said.
The department said Curry, who filed the lawsuit in the 2023 shooting, “would have been offered assistance with CVC and information about additional resources.”
According to previous KXAN investigations, many victims reported extreme lag times in acquiring funds through the CVC program.
Martinez did not mention plans to file a lawsuit.
In May, the city approved a $550,000 settlement with Jessica Arellano, who was a passenger in a car during the police shooting of her boyfriend Alex Gonzales in 2021. Officers were not charged in that case, and cleared during their internal affairs investigation.
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