Please include documentation regarding how many of these officer-involved shootings involved disciplinary action. The text messages might have remained hidden if not for the alleged bizarre actions of Tomsic and Weldin in January 2020. Please enable JavaScript in your browser for a better user experience. The complaints against Torrance allege a more intense racism. We expect that as police officers, our members should be treated like any other citizen considered innocent until proven guilty, the union said in a statement. Sgt. Thats what got us scared.. According to their attorney, they were not cited. Torrance Police Department is notin compliancewith: This information has been curated by journalists andprivate citizens; and, this platform is available as-a-service to allPeace Officer Standards & Training [POST] Departments,Prosecutors, andLaw Enforcement Organizations [LEOrgs]. Rich L.A. homeowners are snapping them up, Left-handed pitchers offer gold-like value for high school teams, Column: How I finally learned to care about Orange Countys crumbling coastline, Shipping firms to pay pipeline company nearly $100 million in O.C. But theyve hit a snag, Review: A reimagined Secret Garden fails to flower anew at the Ahmanson Theatre, A $150,000 executive protection dog? In court documents recently filed by the government, former officers--some of whom are minorities fired after probationary periods--said two epithetic slogans are commonly used within the department. The caption read hanging with the homies.. I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 25, 2017. like this one. On July 2, the Torrance City Attorneys Office filed a criminal complaint charging Lena Hernandez, with battery, a violation of California Penal Code Section 242. Emergency Services: 310-618 Gavin Newsom declares state of emergency for LA, San Bernardino counties due to severe winter storms, Alpine Village, for decades a German American hub, faces unknown future, Real snow falls at Disneyland not the fake soapy stuff, Is there a problem with paying cash for a car? The sum was upped to $9 million by a judge and the case finally was settled for $6.5 million. In a four-page letter written earlier this month to Superior Court Presiding Judge Daniel J. Buckley, City Manager LeRoy Jackson said the city had complied with the grand jurys recommendation and removed such warnings from its complaint forms and related materials.. I really appreciate it. Simpson case, the downfall of Orange County Sheriff-turned felon Michael S. Carona and the use of unauthorized drugs by Olympian Carl Lewis. That number did not include Tomsic, Weldin, or Schroeder, he said. After one officer shared a news article about someone being arrested for urinating on a Black child and calling them the N-word, Satterfield replied, whats the crime? according to district attorneys records reviewed by The Times. They just go too far over there., Adds David Lynn, a Venice-based private investigator who specializes in police misconduct cases: As far as harassing minorities . Maybe its a taillight out . for having expired tags, for having a taillight out. Simple traffic stops often result in crimes being solved and wanted criminals apprehended, he added. The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. Weldin and Tomsic are accused of spray-painting a swastika on a vehicle impounded from a theft suspect in January 2020. Truly favorable attitudes cannot prevail when a question of misuse of authority, either real or imagined, arises. If you wish to file a formal Frequently, hateful comments were targeted at Black people. Review comes amidst allegations of excessive force, racist text messages, and other discriminatory misconduct. Please find attached the information requested in your email. According to district attorneys records reviewed by The Times, Concannon once sent a troubling text message referring to a deposition he gave in an officer-involved shooting., They believed our lies. Dunn then placed a monitored call to Tomsic, who tried to blame Weldin, saying, Weldin is the instigator of all this. Sgt. In total, Torrance police have confirmed 15 officers were placed on administrative leave as a result of the scandal. The California Attorney Generals ongoing investigation into 13 officers who have been placed on leave for their participating in the exchange of racist text messages that joked about lynching Black men, among other things will provide a check to see where we can optimize performance and increase accountability, Police Chief Jeremiah Hart said during Tuesdays meeting. Gascn said the texts are proof that some Torrance officers hate the communities they were hired to serve. If I were a citizen, youre damned right Id want people stopped . Which one doesnt belong? the caption asked. We the Peoplehave aRight to Knowaccording to the Supreme Court of the United States [SCOTUS], past Presidents (of both major political parties), Congress, and the United States Department of Justice. The department would not comment on citizen complaints against police beyond saying that it investigated 34 of them in 1993, sustaining 23. One year later, Tomsic was one of several officers involved in a deadly altercation with Deautry Ross in the Del Amo Fashion Center, according to district attorneys records. The most controversial incident involving officers linked to the racist text scandal is the 2018 shooting death of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell. The governments current inquiry into allegations of racial harassment of the public is simply an effort to bolster its discriminatory hiring case against Torrance, one Justice Department official said. Weldin did not deny painting the car even after the tow driver asked him to come clean, said the affidavit. Some supervisors point out to new officers during their probation periods the difference between street niggers and upstanding black citizens, one former officer said. A Torrance police officer has been charged with assault for his role in a 2018 shooting. The Times identified 13 officers in its investigation, including Tomsic, Weldin and Schroeder, meaning there are an additional five Torrance officers under investigation whose identities remain unknown to the public. After a grueling six-week trial, a jury awarded the family of a young motorcyclist $5.9 million after he was struck and killed by an off-duty sergeant who had been drinking. Usually, conversations always seemed to circle back to vile insults or depictions of violence against Black people. Daniels, who is black, moved to Torrance from Michigan this summer to pursue an acting career, and claims that he was pulled over seven times in three months yet never cited. Detectives: 310-618-5570. His stories have led to the closure of a chain of badly-run group homes, the end of a state program that placed criminals in inappropriate public jobs and the creation of a civilian oversight office for the Orange County Sheriff's Department, among other things. How many officer-involved-shootings were there per year for the last 10 years in your department? We have a group of officers who, apparently in addition to harboring very biased and racist beliefs, also may be engaging in inappropriate force that could be illegal in some cases, he said. Police officials say they were investigating Daniels claim and could not comment. Schroeder used a carotid restraint hold sometimes referred to as a blood choke to subdue a homeless Black man in a park in November 2018, according to Long Beach police records The Times obtained through a public records request. Another picture he sent referred to an African American baby as a Pet Niguana, according to the records, and he also sent a message mocking the fact that he was the subject of a racial profiling complaint. Community Affairs: 310-618-6392. Schroeder initiated contact with the man because he was sleeping in a park after it closed, the records show, and used the choke to take him down after an altercation. Grand jury investigation spurs Torrance to, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Grand jury investigation spurs Torrance to change police-complaint forms, Hermosa Beach Police arrest 2 men suspected in shooting attempt, LAPD union wants to hand nonviolent calls over to to unarmed responders, Lunafest returns as a live event in Redondo Beach on March 5, Retired LA Kings star Dustin Brown honored in Hermosa Beach, grand jury report titled Policing the Police, Alpine Village, for decades a German American hub, faces unknown future, Real snow falls at Disneyland not the fake soapy stuff, Is there a problem with paying cash for a car? (Please list officer firearm discharge directed at a person separately from a shooting involving an animal and separately from accidental firearm discharges). TheCalifornia Public Records Actis a series of laws meant to guarantee that the public has access to public records of governmental bodies in California. MuckRock is a non-profit collaborative news site that gives you the tools to keep our government transparent and accountable. The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Torrance--as well as others against El Monte, Alhambra and Pomona--claiming that the police and fire departments discriminated against minorities during hiring. with conspiracy and vandalism for allegedly spray-painting a swastika inside a vehicle. The council and Hart appear to have full faith in the oversight power of the state oversight board, though. Tomsic filled out a California Highway Patrol form attesting that the vehicle had not been vandalized, and had it towed by driver Chris Dunn to the impound yard at Van Lingen Towing. One should allow 10 days for an agency to comply with a records request. . Saavedra has worked as a journalist since 1979 and has held positions at several Southern California newspapers before arriving at the Orange County Register in 1990. If citizen complaints are not taken seriously, it does increase the sense of impunity that officers who are inclined toward misconduct have, he said. . Another photo asked what someone should do if their girlfriend was having an affair with a Black man. California Atty. A U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit filed against Torrance Police in the 1990s uncovered claims that officers routinely used racial slurs and even had code Rich L.A. homeowners are snapping them up, Left-handed pitchers offer gold-like value for high school teams, Column: How I finally learned to care about Orange Countys crumbling coastline, Shipping firms to pay pipeline company nearly $100 million in O.C. charged Officer David Chandler with assault in late August for allegedly shooting an armed man in the back, Torrance police officer linked to racist text message scandal is charged in 2018 shooting, similar scandals involving racist text messages among San Francisco officers, More racist text messages uncovered among San Francisco police officers. The officers described the weapon, later determined to be a break barrel air rifle, as pinched between Mitchells legs, though neither alleged he grabbed it or pointed it at them before they opened fire. Gen. For assistance The homeless man was booked on suspicion of resisting arrest, being in the park after dark and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to a Long Beach police spokesman. One (Torrance officer) said, The white people pay us to keep Mexicans out, said Esparza, a night student at Inglewood High School. The Police Departments recent racist text-messagingscandal in which the officers responsible for Mitchells death participated has onlyfurtheredcalls for more robust police accountability. He graduated from California State University, Fullerton, in 1981 with a bachelor of arts in communication. Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer, Subject: RE: California Public Records Act Request: Torrance, CA PD Citizen Complaints. We dont have the money to do it at the level they (California) do, Ashcraft said. in communication and M.S. County prosecutors had tossed 35 felony cases as of mid-November, and the Torrance city attorneys office has dismissed an additional 50, officials said. Hutchings holds a B.A. What is the total number of complaints police officers made against their peer officers (sometimes called internal complaints) in department annually for the last 10 years? Ponegalek argued that The Times analysis was incomplete, as it did not include statistics involving complaints filed by other officers. Judge Amy Carter will decide whether to suppress evidence from the personal cellphones of ex-officers Corey Weldin and Christopher Tomsic. I dont want to have a board that is nothing more than a place that people come and give their complaints.. Another officer then sat on Ross legs before others were able to bind Ross arms and legs with a hobble restraint.. The department has refused to identify them. Every time I turn around, somebody has a complaint against them, said Royce Esters, president of the Compton National Assn. Those people spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could candidly discuss an ongoing investigation. The Times did not independently view documentation of racist text messages sent by any of those four officers, though the newspaper did review a document that showed Concannon sent messages that are part of the investigation. Its a deep-seated cultural problem, Price said. Torrance, CA 90503-5056. All the while, the city contended officers were innocent and that all the allegations were fabricated, including one that officers had squeezed the testicles of three teenage Latino detainees. The first spate of costly lawsuits began in the late 1980s. Tony Saavedra is an investigative reporter specializing in legal affairs for the Orange County Register. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. What got them pulled over, the three allege in their suit, was not erratic driving or outstanding warrants. If your department logs complaints in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead. The city prevailed. The Rastello familys attorneys, Browne Greene and Brian Panish of Santa Monica, had alleged that fellow officers protected Green by not testing his blood-alcohol level, altering witness statements and using one of the departments few untapped phone lines to report the accident to commanders. Two of the officers under investigation as part of the scandal Anthony Chavez and Matthew Concannon are also under investigation for the controversial 2018 slaying of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell, a Black car theft suspect they fatally shot while he was holding an air rifle. In addition to Weldin, Tomsic and Chandler, The Times has reviewed district attorneys records detailing racist texts or images shared by six other police officers: Blake Williams, Brian Kawamoto, Joshua Satterfield, Omar Alonso, Christopher Allen-Young and Long Beach Police Officer Maxwell Schroeder, who is a former Torrance police recruit. WebThe Torrance Police Department (California) Brady List is the definitive public-facing database of information about: police misconduct, public complaints, decertification, do . Good job sticking to the script, he wrote. It is really a surprising abdication of their responsibility as elected officials to respond to their constituents and to express the will of their constituents, said Jody David Armour, a lawyer and professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in an interview Friday. I think they mean new black faces, 21-year-old Willy Daniels said. Some critics say the citys most recent vote against a survey is a show of the councils unwillingness to address the concerns of the Torrance community. Kawamoto also referred to Black men as savages in the texts, according to district attorneys records reviewed by The Times. Within weeks, Torrance police provided the district attorneys office with more than 200 gigabytes of data, which showed the officers had been exchanging racist messages since at least 2018, according to Teran, the advisor to the district attorney. As an expression of that Right to Know, we have coordinated valuable information from a number of resources into a single, public-facing, searchable database. Our members have a right to due process and should be protected from illegal and unnecessary intrusion into their private lives.. During the struggle, Tomsic said, Ross tried to gain control of his gun, according to a district attorneys office memo clearing the officers of criminal liability. What is the total number of citizen complaints (allegations of misconduct) made against your departments officers annually for the last 10 years? Dont ask me where that lump on her forehead came from though.. Webbyot port allen how common is a false positive herpes test; free teen tubes stnr disposable not charging; asriah queen sue lightning lost stream; legolas and thranduil fanfiction lemon Im not going to tell you were not going to take some heat from time to time, but I think even good departments do that, Mayor Dee Hardison said. Please enable JavaScript in your browser for a better user experience. It was one of several changes to the police complaint process municipal officials said were made after receiving recommendations from the grand jury. . Lacey cleared the officers of wrongdoing in all three deaths, but Gascn has reopened the investigation into Mitchells killing . The City Council only considered surveying the community about an oversight commission on March 15 to fulfill the terms of a lawsuit settlement. While I am understanding of the pressures borne by the police, I do not wish my son to live in a world in which he and his friends are confronted and ordered about by two officers at gunpoint, in which he is intimidated and traumatized by uniformed thugs . SB 2 is very expansive, Hart said, noting that the American Civil Liberties Union of California recently announced its support for the bills expanded approach to police accountability. - William O. Douglas, Associate Justice (1939 - 1975), Peace Officer Standards & Training [POST] Departments, Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, Supreme Court of the United States [SCOTUS]. Which of the above data are published publicly? In the mid-1990s, Torrance was hit by a spate of civil rights lawsuits and complaints, including one that contended a Black employee found a hangmans noose dangling above his desk. maybe its something else. Long Beach police officials determined the use of force was justified, the records show. The officers repeatedly ordered Mitchell to get out of the car, but he did not comply, according to the report. The officers comments spared no color or creed: They joked about gassing Jewish people, assaulting members of the LGBTQ community, using violence against suspects and lying during an investigation into a police shooting, according to district attorneys office records reviewed by The Times. Chavez and Concannon were cleared of wrongdoing by former Dist. 1. Lopez had been fleeing police in a truck, and the officers said he attempted to ram them when they opened fire, according to a district attorneys office memo that determined the fatal shooting was justified. What constitutes an officer-involved shooting in your department? WebTorrance Police Department Internal Affairs. Civil rights activists and police watchdog groups claim that the department is among the most Katz said the text messages call into question the credibility of the officers accounts of any past use-of-force incidents involving Black or Latino suspects. Concannon, Chavez and fellow Torrance Police Officers Andrew Kissinger and Enrique Villegas are also under investigation as part of the scandal, according to three people with direct knowledge of the case and a review of district attorneys records. Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed. Rollo Green--who, according to testimony, had a history of alcohol abuse--caused the death of Kelly Rastello, 19, of Long Beach, by making an illegal left-hand turn in front of the motorcyclist, jurors said. Even if the results of investigations are inconclusive, tracking complaints can provide an early warning system to identify and take corrective actions to improve employee conduct.. And he wrote De Ladurantey a letter after the incident. The fate of two former Torrance police officers may rest Monday with a Superior Court judge who has been asked to throw out evidence that the officers shared Both the department and residents cite relatively low crime statistics as evidence of the departments success. Medical examiners ruled Ross died of cardiac arrest resulting from methamphetamine use and his struggle with the officers, according to autopsy records. They have every complaint in California theyre not picking and choosing what theyre responding to, she said, adding that the state board will provide huge oversight.. Dunn said he was frustrated that he was getting blamed for the vandalism. 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