By The Vanguard Staff
SACRAMENTO, CA – A man who refused to show Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputies his identification—and was repeatedly kicked by them—received $45,000 in March in a settlement with the county.
According to a lawsuit filed in April 2020, Nathan Schneider was working as a Lyft driver in evening of July 2019, driving a couple back and forth from an Orangevale storage unit facility. But the exit gate malfunctioned and he and his car were trapped inside the facility, according to a story in the Sacramento Bee.
But, after phoning the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office for help, the lawsuit alleged, Sheriff’s deputies Johsua Hartin and John Seubert arrived, and asked Schneider for his license. Schneider did not provide it and the deputies told him to exit the car, the lawsuit reads.
“Ultimately (Schneider) complied and exited his car, but warned the deputy that he just had knee surgery and was still recovering,” said the lawsuit, adding, “Out of spite, the deputy kicked (Schneider’s) knee, tearing his ACL, which required surgery again. To cover his unlawful actions, the deputy falsely arrested (Schneider).”
The Bee wrote, “Schneider’s lawsuit claimed Fourth Amendment violations of excessive force, negligence, false imprisonment, as well as a state penal code violation of battery. As defendants it named the county, Hartin and Seubert, all of whom were represented by the same attorneys from outside firm Porter Scott.”
“Schneider was arrested for obstruction and or/resistance, the lawsuit alleged. There are no criminal records in Sacramento County Superior Court for Schneider, indicating charges were not filed,” said The Bee.
The county declined comment on the settlement, and Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi wouldn’t deny or confirm if the deputies still worked for the county, although The Bee wrote both were “still Sheriff’s deputies in 2022, according to Transparent California, a website that tracks the salaries of public employees.”
The Bee noted the incident is not listed on the Sheriff’s Office web page as an incident in which deputies caused a citizen “great bodily injury,” although under state law, “law enforcement agencies must [keep) all records regarding incidents in which law enforcement officers cause ‘great bodily injury.’”
The Bee, which used the California Public Records Act to discover the county settlement, claims the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and Sacramento City Police Dept. have “failed to release internal affairs disciplinary records for roughly 100 incidents that involved an officer-involved shooting or great bodily injury since 2019,” a Sacramento Bee investigation found.
