Charges stem from an incident in July 2019
Editor’s note: We have reached out to the Windsor town manager, Windsor police chief and the Windsor town attorney, but have not yet received a response. We will be updating this story as we hear from them.
In a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California, the County of Sonoma, the Town of Windsor, Sheriff Mark Essick and Windsor police officers Travis Perkins, Brent Kidder and Gregory Clegg are charged with violating the civil rights of La’Marcus McDonald, an African American man, in July 2019. The suit seeks general damages, special damages, punitive and exemplary damages, attorney’s fees and statutory damages.
The lawsuit was filed on McDonald’s behalf by Reed. R. Kathrein and Steve W. Berman of the law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.
According to the complaint, McDonald alleges that on July 9, 2019, McDonald was with his mother at 712 Sequoia St. in Windsor, but that they were in the midst of being evicted because he was too young to live in the age-restricted development. McDonald had been asked to sleep elsewhere by the property owner, and he had been allowed to sleep in his friend’s car parked just outside the development on Bell Road.
On the night in question, he was asleep in the car and “at some point, the driver’s side door was opened.” Andrew Chambers was driving past, and concerned about a drug overdose, called 911.
According to the complaint, Deputy Sheriff Perkins was dispatched, along with an ambulance and other patrol officers. Perkins approached the vehicle and awakened McDonald, though the complaint states he was “disoriented and confused … while trying to comprehend the scene as other police and paramedic vehicles approached.”
Perkins asked if he had been taking any drugs, and McDonald said no, though he admitted he had been drinking earlier in the evening.
According to the complaint, “Deputy Sheriff Perkins then asked (McDonald) to exit the vehicle. Disoriented, (McDonald) complied, slowly putting his feet on the ground and slowly standing up. As he exited the vehicle, Deputy Sheriff Perkins spun him around and grabbed his right hand. Deputy Sheriff Perkins did not tell (McDonald) that he was under arrest or tell him to turn around so that he could hand-cuff him. Instead, Deputy Sheriff Perkins began to try to hand-cuff (McDonald) immediately and forcefully.
In his disoriented and confused condition, (McDonald) did not understand or comprehend what Deputy Sheriff Perkins was trying to do. The next thing (McDonald) remembers is waking up face first on the ground with pain in his head and mouth.”
The complaint states that Perkins filed a false report accusing McDonald of “tensing up” and according to body camera footage viewed by McDonald, “Perkins shouted, ‘Don’t f—— do that again,’ and then, using deadly force, slammed him head first into the ground while holding his right hand. As a result, (McDonald) landed headfirst on the pavement knocking him unconscious, breaking two front teeth, knocking out a third and causing facial and arm lacerations and bleeding.”
The complaint then alleges that McDonald was transported to the hospital where he was kept cuffed and denied water “for hours” by Clegg. He was then taken to the Sonoma County jail “without being told why he was under arrest or the charges against him … until relatives could post bail. The District Attorney refused to prosecute the charges on or about July 12, 2019, after receipt of the false arrest report and body camera footage.”
In addition, McDonald “could not afford to get the car out of impoundment, where the car remains today and is incurring ever-increasing, unreasonable and unconstitutional charges.”
The complaint further alleges that McDonald was denied access to the body camera footage, though he was eventually allowed to watch it, but denied a copy, and that the footage has still not been released by the Sheriff’s Department, in violation of Govt. Code 6254(f)(4), which went into effect on July 1, 2019, just preceding this incident.
“Sonoma County and the Sheriff’s Department claim that having three front teeth knocked out and being rendered unconscious is ‘not great bodily harm’ and claim that California Penal Statutes and case law to the contrary have no bearing on the Government Code statutes. As a result, Sonoma County undoubtedly, has failed to report the incident to the California Department of Justice as required by Govt. Code § 12525.2(d) – a law passed in 2015 that went into force on January 1, 2017 to require each sheriff and police chief to annually furnish to the Department of Justice a report of specified incidents when a police officer is involved in the use of force,” says the complaint.
The complaint sums up the charges by stating “evidence will show after discovery, and thereon alleges that Sonoma County and Windsor breached their duty of care to the public in that they have failed to discipline the Individual Officer Defendants for their respective misconduct and involvement in the incident described herein. Defendants Sonoma County’s and Windsor’s failure to discipline the Individual Officer Defendants demonstrates the existence of an entrenched culture, policy or practice of promoting, tolerating and/or ratifying with deliberate indifference the use of excessive and/or deadly force and the fabrication of official reports to cover up misconduct.”
At a special meeting on July 1, the town council will receive a presentation from current Windsor Police Chief Ruben Martinez on the Windsor Police Department’s policies and practices related to use-of-force. The agenda and instructions for viewing is available at https://windsor-ca.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=2042.
Update 6/25/20 at 4:45 p.m.
Windsor town attorney Jose Sanchez responded to the Times with the following statement. “We have not received a copy of the lawsuit, however, the town takes any allegation related to the violation of civil rights very seriously. Until we receive a copy of the lawsuit and have an opportunity to review it, we are unable to comment.”
