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Excerpt from Citizen's Complaint of Oakland Police Misconduct

by Richard Cuthrell (flacocuthrell [at] yahoo.org)
This is an excerpt of a complaint submitted February 4, 2004 to Citizen's Police Review Board of the Oakland Police. The document illustrates how some members of the OPD treat law-abiding citizens who exercise the right to privacy.
Brief Narrative Using Own Words.

Riding a bicycle southbound on Center Street at 10:00 AM on January 21, 2004, I observed police activity ahead of me, just beyond Center Street’s intersection with 12th Street. There were several police cars, officers, and bystanders, but the southbound lane was neither closed nor blocked. I proceeded through the intersection with caution, and I rode slowly (3-5 mph) in order to be heedful of any possible orders from an officer. I passed two officers to my right who made eye contact with me and permitted me to continue down Center Street to the right of the police activity. I proceeded through the intersection and five yards later I passed Sergeant Delgadillo to my left. He firmly ordered for me to “Hurry through.” I turned to explain that I was riding slowly to avoid any possible collisions with officers or bystanders. Immediately, Officer Sam Kim blocked me from the front, and Sergeant Delgadillo quickly blocked me from the side. Both officers used a confrontational and antagonistic tone throughout the following discussion.

Sergeant Delgadillo asked me what had I said, and I explained that I had told him why I was riding slowly and that I had no intention of disrespecting or disobeying any police officers. The officers ordered me to provide them with my identification. I refused, and asked them to tell me what law I had violated. One of the officers told me that I had ridden through a crime scene. I indicated to them that the southbound lane was not blocked and that the first two officers I had passed had not told me to stop. I added that Sergeant Delgadillo had told me to “hurry through” and that, had the officers not blocked me, I would have been able to follow his orders. Reaching back for his hand-cuffs and posturing to use force, Officer Kim told me that he would arrest me if I did not provide him with my identification. Again I refused, telling him that--unless I had violated a law--I was not obligated to provide him with my identification. Another officer who was observing our discussion asked me with contempt: “What, are you a lawyer? Where did you go to law school?” The same officer also told me that he had seen me at the scene before (untrue) and that “any intelligent citizen” would know not to ride past the police action. I informed him that I found his statement insulting. Again, Officer Kim threatened to arrest me if I did not produce my identification. Again, I told him that I was not obligated to do so unless I had violated the law. After a few minutes of discussion, in which Officer Kim threatened to arrest me once more, I was allowed to leave.

I proceeded to the sidewalk on foot, placed the bicycle against a fence, and asked Sergeant Delgadillo for the three officer’s badge numbers. Sergeant Delgadillo hand-wrote his and Officer Kim’s badge numbers. As he handed me the paper with the badge numbers he ordered me to give him my identification. I refused. He told me that since he had given me his identification, I had to give him mine. I refused. He made direct eye contact with me, and began saying and recording (or pretending to record) on paper: “white male, about 5’10”, 140 lb., mustache, beard, orange jacket...” I asked him why he was listing my physical traits as if I were a suspect, and he told me that he needed to record my physical information to be able to identify a “criminal suspect.” Again I asked for him to tell me what law I had violated. Officer Kim responded that I was riding the wrong way down a one-way street. I pointed out to the officers that Center Street is a two-way street. Officer Kim asked me if the bicycle I was riding was registered. I told him that it was my roommate’s bike and that I thought that it was not registered.

Officer Kim ordered me to stay put as he retrieved his municipal codebook from his squad car. Officer Kim returned and searched through the codebook for at least four minutes before he claimed to have found the code. He pointed to it in the book. I asked if I could see it and raised my hands to pull the book to my vision. He jerked the book away from me and said, “Don’t touch my book! You’ll see it on the citation, now give me your identification.” I acquiesced, and Officer Kim returned to his squad car to run my identification. He returned about five minutes later. I approached him and was standing about three feet away from him. He exclaimed, “Back away!” I did. Roughly four minutes later, Officer Kim called my name. I approached again and, holding a pen in one hand and the book in the other, Officer Kim ordered me to sign the ticket. I reached up to pull the ticket-book to my vision and Officer Kim exclaimed contemptuously: “Don’t touch my ticket book!” I informed Officer Kim that I needed to read the ticket before I signed it. Officer Kim said that he would hold the ticket book. After roughly twenty seconds, Officer Kim ordered me to sign the ticket. I told him that I had not finished reading it and, again, that I would sign it once I had finished reading it. After roughly five seconds, Officer Kim told me that he would arrest me if I did not sign the ticket. I told the officer that I had every intention to sign the ticket, but that I would not do so until I had finished reading it. Officer Kim grabbed for his handcuffs, postured to use force and exclaimed: “Okay, I’m going to arrest you for not signing the ticket!” I repeated my intentions and braced for the officer to use force upon me. A citizen filmed this exchange from about ten feet away. (I have been unable to obtain this videotape as yet.)

Sergeant Delgadillo briskly approached us and gently told Officer Kim: “Sam, would you please go to the squad car; I’ll finish up with this guy.” Officer Kim complied. Sergeant Delgadillo handed me the ticket book. I finished reading the ticket, signed it, and asked the sergeant what I could have done to avoid this in the future. Sergeant Delgadillo was unable to answer my question clearly. I left.

Officer Kim, at no point, appeared to be concerned that the bicycle was stolen. With the exception of glancing at the bicycle to see its brand name, Officer Kim did not inspect the bicycle. At no point was I cited for violating OMC 10.08.0100 (Obedience to Police and Fire Department officials). Once the officers obtained my identification there was no mention of my having violated any laws regarding riding through a crime scene. The officers seemed irritated that I knew my constitutional rights and that I would not waive them. As opposed to focusing on the task at hand, the officers focused their gaze on intimidating a law-abiding citizen. I had the sense that Officer Kim was attempting to instigate me to behave in such a manner to give him cause to arrest me. Sadly, the officers were not only dishonest with me, but also aggressively antagonizing, condescending, contemptuous, and disrespectful.
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