Officer Daniel Kessler was feverishly texting his girlfriend before he slammed into another car
By: -----
Austin, TX - In January 2025, Austin police officer Daniel Kessler was feverishly texting his girlfriend – often with no hand on the wheel – as he raced through the city with his emergency lights and siren activated.
Seconds before the crash, Kessler held the phone near his face and steered at times with his knees. His patrol car then slammed into two vehicles at U.S. 290 and Cameron Road, leaving one driver with a broken kneecap, glass embedded in his forehead and 27 stitches across his face and another passenger with a torn meniscus and lasting hip and back pain.
Kessler emerged largely uninjured. After getting out of his mangled patrol car, he slipped the phone into his pocket.
The American-Statesman obtained Kessler’s body-camera video after the 15-year department veteran resigned 10 days ago before the conclusion of a disciplinary hearing. The footage shows Kessler tapping out messages for nearly two minutes as he ran a red light, reached 52 mph and approached the intersection.
Despite the injuries and the video evidence, Kessler faced no felony charge and paid only two $500 fines after pleading guilty to Class C misdemeanor speeding offenses. The resolution has outraged the victims, who said prosecutors did not fully convey what the video showed before reaching the agreement. They only learned the extent of what happened when the Statesman showed them the footage.
Garza’s office said Kessler’s case is the sixth instance in which a law enforcement officer “has taken responsibility for actions that caused physical harm or death” during Garza’s administration, which began in 2021.
Kessler, 40, was already texting when his body camera automatically activated that Tuesday afternoon as he turned on his emergency lights and sirens while responding to a call for back-up from officers who had stopped a stolen car.
Nine seconds into the video, Kessler removed his left hand from the steering wheel and used both hands to continue texting. The city redacted the messages because they were not related to Kessler’s work.
He kept both hands off the wheel for almost 30 seconds, then dropped his phone into his left front shirt pocket as he drove through a red light near the Interstate 35 frontage road. The video then shows Kessler beginning a left turn as he pulled out his phone again and resumed typing with both hands.
Over the next minute, Kessler continued typing with both hands, intermittently grabbing the wheel with his left hand and at times appearing to steer with his knees.
As he approached U.S. 290 and Cameron Road, Kessler still held the phone near his face. The video shows him suddenly jerk the wheel before his airbags exploded and the sound of crunching metal filled the patrol car.