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Fort Worth attorney completes his walk to Austin, but hasn’t met with Gov. Abbott about police reform
The marathon trek from Fort Worth to Austin cost attorney Leon Reed 10 days and minor injuries to his feet. But to date, he still hasn’t met with Governor Greg Abbott, which was Reed’s goal for his walk to Austin.
FORT WORTH, Texas - The marathon trek from Fort Worth to Austin cost attorney Leon Reed 10 days and minor injuries to his feet.
But to date, he still hasn’t met with Governor Greg Abbott, which was Reed’s goal for his walk to Austin.
He hoped to discuss potential solutions to matters involving police brutality, better engagement between officers, and citizens and police accountability.
RELATED: Fort Worth attorney walking to governor's office in Austin to help bring about police reform
Reed said that while he walked to Austin, his District 90 State Representative Ramon Romero contacted Abbott’s office on his behalf, as did multiple supporters, who made calls and sent emails.
[REPORTER: “Though the efforts were in motion, you still knew it was a long shot, that nothing had been concretely scheduled.”]
“No, nothing had been scheduled, and part of that difficulty in scheduling was I didn’t know when I would arrive,” Reed replied. “I didn’t know when my body would say, you’re done for today or you’re done for the next two days.”
On Tuesday, there was frustration upon Reed’s arrival in Austin, as Gov. Abbott traveled to Fort Worth to hold a news conference.
“In that moment, I was kind of dumbfounded how he went to where I had just come from,” Reed added.
Several of Reed’s supporters in Fort Worth tried to voice their concerns, but were turned away at the Bob Bolen Complex.
Before leaving the room, the governor responded to a question about Reed’s walk.
“Well, obviously I’m not in Austin today and my schedule is in flux for tomorrow. Representatives from my office could meet with him,” he said.
“I’m still hopeful to meet with the governor and I don’t need a lot of time,” Reed said. “I respect the fact that he is the governor of our state. His time is limited and that’s why, sometimes, you have to do extreme things to get to see people at certain levels and so I would hope walking 200 miles would at least merit a, ‘Sir, job well done. We need more people with that level of commitment. Let’s see how we can get you going and get this problem resolved.’”