Release of Dash Cam Video Generate More Controversy in Topete Case

When KCRA 3 in Sacramento requested the dash cam video of the pursuit that ended up with Deputy Sheriff Tony Diaz being shot, and aired it on Thursday evening, it caught many off guard.

The video was a sensitive matter to the family.  When it was initially shown in court, relatives of Tony Diaz responded in loud emotional outbursts that required the court to recess and prompted the defense to ask for a mistrial.  While Judge Paul Richardson refused to declare a mistrial, he did admonish the family to control themselves.

The airing of the video on Thursday night triggered a different kind of outburst – one of outrage from the district attorney’s office and the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department who claim they were not notified until late Thursday afternoon that the video had been released.

“Tonight we are getting a new understanding of the events that led to the killing of Yolo County Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Diaz on a remote country road nearly four years ago,” one of the news anchors said on Thursday night.

“At the same time, we’re getting a better appreciation of the danger Diaz faced the night he died and the potential danger any officer faces each time they go on patrol,” the female anchor added.

The newscasters also noted that the video was part of what Yolo County prosecutors used to convict Marco Topete of the first degree murder of the deputy, which led to the sentence of execution.

“All of it was key evidence in a murder trial where there were no eyewitnesses,” the male newscaster added.

As the video footage from June of 2008 airs, the voice-over notes that “you are looking out of the windshield of a Yolo County sheriff’s patrol car, Deputy Tony Diaz has just pulled into the Pilot gas station in Dunnigan – drivers are pumping gas, families are eating hamburgers.”

“What catches Diaz’s eye is this blue Ford Taurus, the subject of an alert hours earlier, after a drive-by shooting in Woodland,” the narrator continues, as Deputy Diaz turns on his lights and we see Marco Topete sticking his hand out of the vehicle and pointing.

Mr. Topete is about to drive off, leading to the high speed pursuit and eventually the shooting.

Speaking to the Woodland Daily Democrat, Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig expressed outrage.

“I’ve never in my career seen something like this, so I’m surprised. My surprise is shared by colleagues.  It’s shared by colleagues, both prosecutors and police officers. I’ve never seen a court release a piece of evidence like this that is so sensitive,” the district attorney said.

He told the paper that they had not been given an opportunity to be heard by Judge Richardson before the video was released.

“We would have objected to that disclosure but we weren’t given the chance,” he said.

The paper further reports that District Attorney Reisig believes “video being released could also affect the court record when Topete’s death sentence goes to appeal, which is automatic.”

“This was the wrong decision. I know the Sheriff (Ed Prieto) agrees with us,” he said. “The victims are surprised and disappointed.”

On the other hand, Mr. Reisig, according to the Democrat, ” ‘absolutely’ understands the public’s interest concerning the video but did not think it was in the best interest of the victims.”

“I think at this point, while we’re extremely unhappy the judge did this without notifying anybody, and while the victims are hurt as well, it’s out there,” he said. “Deputy Tony Diaz was an absolute hero and it’s out there. People can see for themselves.”

The Democrat reports, “Diaz’s fiancee, Julie Yu, wrote on The Daily Democrat‘s Facebook page that the video ‘is personal, this is private, this is an intimate moment in time of someone we loved taking his last (breath).’ “

But is it?  After all, Jeff Reisig and his Deputy DA Garrett Hamilton made liberal use of the video in the court trial against Marco Topete.  They certainly did not treat it as a private video, an intimate moment of the family, but rather a critical piece of evidence to demonstrate the callousness and viciousness of the crime.

In fact, it would appear, as we noted at the time, that the family was actually used as a pawn, kept in the dark as to the true nature of the video in order to elicit the exact right emotional response in front of the jury.

It seems a bit hypocritical to use the video in such a calculated fashion during trial and then cry foul when the judge released it.

The broadcast was respectfully and professionally done, and while the family may argue it is a private moment, in many respects it is not – it is simply the scene of the crime. A crime that the public, for the first time, gets a chance to see, all before their eyes.

I remember watching the video for the first time in the courtroom. As Deputy Diaz sped up to catch Topete, it was a horrifying moment, realizing that a man’s life was about to end and that we were watching, in many respects, the last images that Deputy Diaz would ever see.

Does this help the public’s understanding or is it just the next step in gratuitousness that marked the entire sordid case?  It is difficult to draw lines in the sand, when such images were so deftly exploited by the DA when it served his purpose.  Now that it does not, it is easy for him to feign outrage.

While the DA and sheriff were quick to point their fingers at Judge Richardson, many inside the courthouse were skeptical that the judge, who spent his entire time on the case attempting to keep things respectable, would release the video.  They think it was more likely the DA and sheriff, who may have realized their error too late and tried to cover their mistake.

We may never know who really released the video.  It is hard to know if this serves the public’s interest, but we tend to come down on the side of transparency, especially in a death penalty case.

To view a copy of the video, click here.

At the same time, KCRA also released an interview with Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto, in which he fondly recalls Deputy Tony Diaz.

“One thing about Tony is he always had a smile on his face,” the sheriff said.

“Him and I always teased each other,” the sheriff related in his interview with the news station.  “Mexican slang.  He would go by in the morning and say, ‘Buenos dias jefe,’ which was good morning boss.  I would say back to him something about the ‘loco’ which was crazy guy.”

“He was the kind of guy who was great to be around and we were very fortunate to have him in our organization,” the sheriff said.

—David M. Greenwald reporting

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