By The Vanguard Staff
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – U.S. District Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler here, as of Monday, has yet to submit a decision in a case involving the violent arrest of a mentally disabled man in 2019—the man’s attorneys argued last Thursday the city of San Leandro destroyed critical evidence in the incident.
In a statement, Sorrell Shiflett’s attorneys, Adanté Pointer, Patrick Buelna, and Ty Clarke, of Oakland-based Pointer & Buelna, charged “vital evidence of the arrest was intentionally destroyed in order to undermine a federal civil rights lawsuit that was filed against the city.”
“There should be body camera videos, a Taser activation log and an entire use-of-force review file, but everything disappeared,” Pointer said. “San Leandro should be punished for destroying evidence of a felony arrest, which according to city policy the police were duty bound to keep, preserve, and safeguard for seven years.”
Pointer’s pleading wrote, “Defendants Navarro and the City of San Leandro willfully destroyed the sole pieces of neutral video evidence, without any credible explanation, along with the records of Navarro’s taser trigger activations and the entire use of force review file without any explanation at all…(and) crippled Plaintiff’s ability to prosecute and defend his unlawful seizure, excessive force and Title II ADA claims.”
Shiflett, 37, “suffered a serious brain injury when he was robbed at gunpoint in 2008 that left him with major cognitive difficulties, slowed speech, and a child-like state of mind,” said the lawyers.
“Defendant City and Defendant Navarro willfully failed to take reasonable steps to preserve the evidence and it appears someone intentionally destroyed the log for this incident. There is no way to restore or replace video evidence, taser logs or the Blue Team file. Indeed, these separate pieces of evidence would be the pieces of evidence that could replace one another, but they were all completely destroyed,” the civil rights lawyers charged in a motion in federal court.
They added, in the pleading, “Since the main conditions of (spoliation) have been met, all that is left for the Court to determine is whether the spoliation occurred without intent under (e)(1) so the court may take measures only to cure the prejudice; or with intent under (e)(2) so the court must either issue a permissive/adverse jury instruction or enter default judgment against Defendants.”
The civil rights team told the court “Defendants plan to discredit Plaintiff’s testimony by pointing to the fact that Plaintiff memory of the incident and in general is poor, has a cognitive impairment and is addicted to meth whereas the officers’ memories are intact. And Plaintiff cannot rebut this strategy because Defendants destroyed the evidence.”
According to the civil rights law firm, on Oct. 6, 2019, Shiflett was “dressed as a character from his beloved Naruto—a popular anime show about a boy ninja—while walking in his neighborhood with a cousin before sunrise. San Leandro Police Officer Ismael Navarro, responding to suspicious persons call, showed up to start questioning the men.”
“He was soon joined by fellow SLP Officer Anthony Pantoja. Shiflett consented to being searched, but grew frightened and took off running when he was ordered to put his hands behind his back. He ran because he wanted to get help from his father to explain his disability and the trouble he was having in understanding why police wanted to detain him,” Attorney Clarke said.
Shiflett, said the firm’s statement, “turned around and walked back to the officers in an attempt to surrender. Pantoja then struck Shiflett with a baton before Navarro tased Shiflett. The electric shocks caused Shiflett to fall backwards and hit his head on the ground. Pantoja again struck Shiflett with a baton while Shiflett laid on the ground after being tased.”
The civil rights lawyers, in their complaint, said, “Officers eventually took him to the emergency room to treat him for his injuries. Upon learning that Shiflett had suffered multiple brain bleeds as a result of the incident, officers then released Shiflett from police custody and left him at the hospital. In addition to the multiple brain bleeds, Shiflett also suffered a torn shoulder ligament that ultimately required three surgeries.”
