Santa Ana police dept fires officers in pot video case

[Diabolical666]

Three Santa Ana police officers caught on tape last year destroying cameras, throwing darts, eating what look like pot edibles and insulting a disabled cannabis patient, have been fired, a Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) spokesperson has confirmed. Brandon Matthew Sontag, Nicole Lynn Quijas and Jorge Arroyo are no longer employed by SAPD, according to Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, an SAPD spokesperson, who declined further comment, saying he was unable to discuss "personnel matters."

As the Weekly reported last month, the three officers recently pled not guilty to charges of vandalism and petty theft (of what prosecutors allege were candy bars) stemming from the notorious May 26, 2015 raid of the Sky High Holistic marijuana dispensary in Santa Ana. They were last reported to have been on paid leave pending administrative appeals, but according to Bertagna, Arroyo's last day on the job was April 20, 2016—insert 420 joke here—while both Quijas and Sontag left the department on May 6.

After raiding Sky High, arresting several individuals and dismantling all the video surveillance equipment they could find inside the dispensary, the officers apparently thought they had found all the cameras. But a backup surveillance system with cameras inside each room showed officers joking about kicking pot activist Marla James, an amputee confined to a wheelchair who has since sued Santa Ana, in her "nub." Then, after retrieving what appear to be pot edibles from a back room, the officers begin snacking on the treats, including one officer who joked that he felt "kinda light headed."

The three officers who no longer work for SAPD were never drug-tested however. But after a lengthy internal affairs investigation, prosecutors charged them with with misdemeanor counts of petty theft and vandalism. If convicted, they face between six months and a year in prison.

HAH!!!

 

[CA MTN MAN]

I remember watching these videos and thinking wow I bet they get away with it.... Glad to see them paying for their mistakes

 

[ttystikk]

Assholes in blue. Whoda thunk?

So maybe we need to be watching every fucking one of them, ALL the time.

 

[tyler.durden]

They were last reported to have been on paid leave pending administrative appeals, but according to Bertagna, Arroyo's last day on the job was April 20, 2016—insert 420 joke here—while both Quijas and Sontag left the department on May 6.

He must have been really angry. I wonder if he had anything to do with Prince's death...

After raiding Sky High, arresting several individuals and dismantling all the video surveillance equipment they could find inside the dispensary, the officers apparently thought they had found all the cameras. But a backup surveillance system with cameras inside each room showed officers joking about kicking pot activist Marla James, an amputee confined to a wheelchair who has since sued Santa Ana, in her "nub."

This is the shit that gets me with this cop mentality. Picking on the weakest of us, an educated lady in a fucking wheelchair. It would be bad enough if they felt remorse for their actions, but they actually take pleasure in it. This is largely what the job attracts. Fucking evil psychopaths...

 

[Blue Wizard]

View attachment 3733165

As the Weekly reported last month, the three officers recently pled not guilty to charges of vandalism and petty theft...

That vid was all over the fucking place, we know you did it.

 

[MonkeyGrinder]

but they actually take pleasure in it.

And that they do.
I verbally owned 2 pigs a few weeks ago when they up and decided they were going to attempt to do some stupid shit. Or they thought they were dealing with an idiot anyways. Flexed my rights on em 110%. They were pretty pissed off.
Pigs get off on that crap though. The most brazen ones are like the ones up in the story above. True cowards at heart though when they ain't got their badge on or that uniform. I ran into a dirty cop that eventually "resigned" a few years back. Had a few run ins with him way back when.He tried to nail me. Even to the point where he offered someone a total pass on some shit and the only thing they had to do was bring my name into the picture. But anyways it was one of those random encounters at Walmart. He was in checkout and not paying attention. I slipped up behind him and got real fucking close. Just staring at him. He was tipped off I was there by the cashier when she looked at me. Guy turns his head, sees me and it was one of those moments where you see someone freeze up completely because they're like oh fuck. Eyes widened and he got visibly shaky. I just kept glaring at him in silence. At that point he turned sideways and kept darting his eyes over keeping me in his peripheral vision. He got done with his business so I decided to screw with him. Stuck my stuff on top of the soda cooler and followed him to the front doors and watched him get in his car and gtfo there. My only intention was to shake him up a little bit.
Guy's had his shit stomped in due to his previous career choices. Unloaded a gun through his front door and walls due to paranoia after. He's a total paranoid basket case nowadays.
He had absolutely no composure though. His reaction to the whole encounter showed how weak kneed and truly spineless he was. It reminded him as well. That was the best part of it. He's the one who has to live with it.
If these guys got canned then then it's only a matter of time before they have to deal with things they've done via the general public. Being the google age and all their history is only one search away from new neighbors, coworkers and everyone else on the planet.
That's if they don't get hired on in some other department somewhere.
Pigs. The whole lot of them.
I've had various "passionate" discussions about my feelings towards them. Told a guy his dad was a fucking pig last Tuesday when he piped in on a conversation with "Hey man my dad's a retired police officer".
God I hate em.

 

[Unclebaldrick]

So many of them are bullies and cowards.

I used to live near an intersection that had a right turn only lane. That lane was routinely violated by assholes looking to get ahead of a car or two by sitting in it and then going straight. This meant that nobody could make a right turn on red. I was pretty sick of it, so one night when I saw an unmarked pig car sitting in front of me in the right turn only lane I laid on the horn.

Of course they pulled me over. "Do you know who we are?" They menacingly asked me. "Yeah, you are some assholes violating the law and setting a bad example. Are you on a call right now?"

"How do you feel like spending the night in jail?"

I asked my wife if she was cool taking the car home herself and she said "sure". So I said "I'm OK with spending the night in jail if it means you spend the next month explaining your actions to an internal review board. Let's go!" And I thrust my hands out the window to be cuffed. Then I just savored the next few moments as they thought about it.

Of course they backed down with an admonishment not to do it again. I said "no, don't you do it again." I could see it hurt them to back down but they pretty much had to - I am white and had a witness. If I were black or brown or alone there would have been more to the story.

 

[Diabolical666]

Thats deep bro

 

[Unclebaldrick]

Thats deep bro

Truth of the matter was that I had the self confidence of a person who was well known and liked by Alderman O'Connor, the mayor's right hand man. I knew it and they sensed it.

 

[oldtimer54]

Several years back I had an encounter with a local sheriff's deputy. I had a rural paper route. I had been delivering papers for about 18 months and had never seen any law while on my route. One night I rolled up to a 4 way stop way out in the country. There was a convenience store on the right side of the 4 way. The road in all directions is nice and flat allowing you to see in all directions for 100's of yards.
As I slowly rolled up to the 4 way I could easily see there was no traffic so I continued on as I start rolling thru I notice a car parked beside a shipping container and as I look closer I notice it's a cop.
As I go by the store I keep looking in my rear view and sure enough the cop pulls out and starts following me it's 2:30 am no traffic on the road but us. I go down the road about a mile and I turn on my left signal and he hits the blue light. I pull over and wait for him to make his way to the car and he want my license which I already had out he asks me did I know why he pulled me and I said no.
He then asks me did I not see the stop signs back at the intersection and I said of course I saw them. He then asks me why I didn't stop and my comment to him was I saw no need to completely stop because there wasn't any traffic . He then made some smart ass comment,about not being able to read or comprehend....That's when things got nasty.....I've always taken my medicine when pulled by the cops for traffic offences but that particular night I got pissed and I let him know I was pissed
He said he was out there for the safety of other motorists from people like me who didn't obey the rules. Well that when I went off and I told him it had nothing to do with safety but had more to do with money and to save face.....you see there had been a terrible accident out there a week earlier where 3 high school kids had gotten killed while racing . I couldn't resist the temptation and brought up the fact had he been out that night patrolling instead of hiding in the shadows those kids might still be alive. He didn't take to kindly to that statement and I think I,said something about his parents must be so proud of him keeping the roads safe from people slow rolling thru intersections while kids are killing themselves by running into huge oak trees and getting thrown thru their windshields. I finally told him just give me my ticket so I can get started running my route. Now I had been driving in that area for over 18 months with no interactions with any law but after that night I had 5 encounters with the local sheriff's deputies in the next several months . On 2 occasions there were more than one car of cops involved in pulling me over for what I saw was nothing but retaliation from the dude that gave me my ticket it was obvious to me that he had put the word out to his fellow officers to watch out for the dude in the white Honda. The last time I refused to hand over my license to the asshole who was asking......just gave him my name and address instead andcwhen I inquired as to why I was being pulled over their reason was they had received a call about a suspicious car that matched my car. I asked them did the call come from one of their wife's or perhaps their girlfriend or maybe their parents. I told them that I'd been doing the same thing at roughly the same time for almost 2 years. I told them that I knew why they were stopping me and that I'd had about as much as I could stand and that I would be contacting my attorney when his office opened that morning......after that statement they quickly got in their cars and hauled ass and I'm sorry to say that several weeks later I left that area and started working in another county. Since my departure from that area my contact with law enforcement has been them rolling up on me just to make sure I'm ok and then they're gone which is the way I like it.
I can be respectful when it's deserved but I can also be quite defensive when I feel the need to need to be !