OAKLAND, Calif. — An Alameda County Superior Court judge dismissed a misdemeanor case in the interest of justice after the defense argued police unnecessarily escalated a call inside the accused’s home, leaving a woman with stage 4 back cancer injured, jailed for six days and facing criminal charges the court ultimately declined to pursue.
During a pretrial hearing in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland, Judge Cara Sandberg dismissed the case after hearing testimony about the accused’s cancer diagnosis and the circumstances leading to her arrest. Deputy Public Defender Langston Glaude argued police escalated an altercation inside the accused’s home and called the accused’s husband as a witness.
The accused was charged with misdemeanor offenses, including battery.
Deputy District Attorney Esther Lemus noted that discovery had been ordered during a previous hearing on June 30. She added that “some items have come in” as of that morning.
DPD Glaude asked Judge Sandberg to dismiss the case in the interest of justice, citing the accused’s stage 4 back cancer and the officers’ conduct after they were called to the home.
According to Glaude, officers initiated multiple acts of physical violence against the accused, including body-slamming her, which he said broke her toe. Glaude added that officers then arrested the accused and held her in custody for a total of six days.
Glaude argued the officers’ actions represented a “miscarriage of justice in all ways.”
The court then heard from the accused’s husband, who appeared visibly emotional at the podium. Judge Sandberg noted that he was identified as the protected party under a criminal protective order because of allegations of battery against the accused.
The accused’s husband said he had no concerns for his safety, citing his and the accused’s marriage of about 30 years. Although portions of his statement were difficult to understand because of his emotion, he said police had initially been called for an incident that did not involve the accused and that he was surprised when she became implicated.
The accused’s husband added that he tried to speak with officers to prevent an escalation and that, when he made the emergency call, he did not anticipate that both he and the accused would be taken into custody. He said they had been “arrested for no reason.”
In his academic article, “Police Brutality and Racism in America,” scholar Stephan Schwartz wrote that racial disparities in misdemeanor arrest rates persist across most offense categories in the United States. Schwartz wrote that Black and Brown individuals are disproportionately subjected to police brutality despite comprising a smaller share of the population. The research provides broader context regarding documented disparities in policing, although the court made no findings of racial discrimination in this case.
The accused’s husband clarified that the accused’s cancer diagnosis was stage 4, the most advanced stage of the disease, in which cancer has spread to other parts of the body. Throughout his statement, he also repeatedly referenced the accused’s broken toe in the context of the alleged police misconduct.
DDA Lemus said the evidence would be “further reviewed.”
Judge Sandberg said she had carefully considered Glaude’s arguments and the accused’s husband’s testimony, particularly regarding the accused’s cancer diagnosis and bodily injury. She then dismissed the case in the interest of justice.
After dismissing the case, Judge Sandberg also granted Glaude’s request to terminate the criminal protective order, bringing the criminal proceedings against the accused to a close.
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