Miguel Masso was hired by the Oakland Police after leaving his job in New York City in 2007 in the wake of a torture lawsuit. After killing Alan Blueford in 2012, Masso resigned from the Oakland Police Department in late spring of 2014 in the aftermath of the lawsuit brought by the Blueford family against the City of Oakland. He quickly found another job with the Hollister Police Department in August of 2014. Now, after being pulled over by Masso on January 27, 2017, Hollister resident Earl Malanado feels like he barely escaped with his life.

According to Earl Malanado, Masso became irate when he saw that he had his cell phone out and was filming the traffic stop, as is his constitutional right. Masso then proceeded to drag him to the rear of the car, screaming at him, and smashing him to the ground. Masso pushed Earl's face into the dirt and pressed on the back of his knees, causing Earl to have difficulty breathing. Masso continued to shout incoherently, occasionally saying "Stop Resisting!" despite Earl doing what he could to cooperate, in fear of his life.

JP Massar writes: If the Hollister Police did not know what track record their potential hire had, that is bad — very bad. Insufficient background checks and potential withholding of information by other departments where he had worked point out very serious failures. While if they did know, and hired him anyway, that's even worse. Miguel Masso and officers like him - victims of trauma from being in the military or otherwise, those who see a gun behind every shadow, hotheads, "cowboys," and those whose ego prevent them from dealing with the public with restraint and respect when the public is not reciprocating, do not belong on police forces. They most certainly should not be able to go from city to city, itinerant timebombs with a gun on one hip and a taser on the other waiting for the next Alan Blueford or Earl Malanado to step across their path.

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