Vanguard Sacramento Bureau Chief
SACRAMENTO, CA – A Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy who kicked and hit a Black man in 2020 four times cost Sacramento taxpayers $217,000—but the deputy is still on the job.
The county paid the settlement in a February 2024 deal after a claim was filed after Deputy Spencer Wright attacked Brandell Sampson, who is Black, and kicked and hit him without provocation in March of 2020, a Sacramento Bee story reported.
Of note, Sampson was the wrong man.
The deputy also mistook Sampson for a man with a warrant for a probation violation, ordered Sampson out of the car and then, according to a video taken by Sampson’s sister, kicked the man in the lower back, knocking him to the ground.
The deputy then hit Sampson on the head three times with the handle of a Taser, according to official documents.
Although Wright claim he thought Sampson was grabbing a weapon, the documents confirm Sampson was not.
The settlement, according to a California Public Records Act request, was signed in February, said the Bee.
In a review of the incident, added the Bee, Chief Deputy Chet Madison found Wright violated policy when he hit Sampson in the head and tased him, adding, “Deputy Wright’s actions were captured on video and negatively portrayed the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office…his actions were outside of the scope of his training and a violation of policy.”
The Bee reported Madison recommended Wright be given an 80-hour unpaid suspension, and lose the ability to train other deputies.
“Wright, as well as Sgt. Tim Mullin, also named in the lawsuit, are both still employees of the Sheriff’s Office,” according to a document the Bee said it received from a separate PRA request.
