Pubdate: Wed, 10 Jan 2001
Source: Alameda Times-Star (CA)
Copyright: 2001 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact:  P.O. Box 28884 ,Oakland, CA 94612
Fax: (510) 208-6477
Website: http://www.timesstar.com/
Author: Josh Richman, Staff Writer

FUGITIVE COP FACES NEW CIVIL LAWSUIT

Probe Target Vazquez Accused Of Coercing Man To Buy Drugs

A new federal civil rights lawsuit claims renegade Oakland police officers 
used threats of false arrest to coerce a man into buying drugs.

Earl Tolbert claims Officer Francisco Vazquez -- one of "The Riders," a 
group of officers now facing criminal charges for brutalizing people, 
planting evidence and other offenses -- and another officer not named in 
the suit threatened to frame him for drug possession unless he agreed to 
buy drugs.

So Tolbert bought drugs and gave them to Vazquez at least four times, the 
suit claims.

"It was not buy-and-bust -- the drugs, once they were purchased, were given 
to the officer to do whatever he wanted to do with them," attorney John 
Burris said Tuesday. "What it appears, given the number of cases we have 
seen, is that the drugs were used to plant on other individuals with whom 
they (the officers) were seeking cooperation."

The lawsuit Burris filed Monday in U.S. District Court on behalf of Tolbert 
and Michael Higgs, Billy Burrell, Alvin Calloway, Donnie Hardiway, Dajuan 
Owens and Craig Smith is the latest of several lawsuits against "The 
Riders" and those who allegedly permitted their activities -- Sgt. Jerry 
Hayter, Chief Richard Word and the city itself.

In fact, this latest suit comes roughly one month after Burris filed a 
federal class action lawsuit against Vazquez and the other "Riders" on 
behalf of more than a dozen alleged victims. Burris said he expects the 
lawsuits eventually will be consolidated.

In November, Vazquez and officers Clarence Mabanag, Jude Siapno and Matthew 
Hornung were criminally charged with a total of 48 felonies and 12 
misdemeanors for their alleged actions between June 13 and July 3 in which 
at least eight people were victimized.

Three of the officers surrendered to face the charges and are scheduled for 
a preliminary hearing next month. Vazquez fled, perhaps to Mexico, and is 
being sought by local and federal law enforcement agencies.

Another officer, Steve Hewison, is named as a defendant in the civil cases, 
but no criminal charges have been filed against him.

Burris said the new lawsuit was filed in order to preserve plaintiffs 
rights' under certain statutes of limitations, or laws that limit how much 
time can elapse between an event and the filing of a lawsuit over that event.

But this complaint, he noted, is distinguished from the earlier 
class-action complaint by the drug-buying allegation leveled by Tolbert.

"And we don't believe by any stretch of the imagination that this was the 
only person involved in this way," Burris said. "The district attorney may 
very well be aware of individuals who likewise were used by the officers to 
purchase drugs for them."

Burris called Tolbert's claim "pretty shocking.

"This person obviously had a legitimate reason to be fearful," the lawyer 
said. "He was caught between a rock and a hard spot. ... You have the fear 
of the cops on one hand and the fear of the drug dealers on the other."

Each of the other plaintiffs in this new lawsuit basically claims he was 
falsely arrested for drug possession by one or more of "The Riders," with 
the charges later dismissed by prosecutors; some allege they were assaulted 
by the officers.

Mike Rains, Mabanag's attorney, said the lawsuit's claims seem without merit.

"Some of it strikes me as probably laughable," he said. "We now have these 
plaintiffs crawling out from under some rock and somehow thinking they're 
going to score the lotto by jumping on some lawsuit bandwagon. It is 
offensive in the extreme ... and I certainly hope the city takes an 
aggressive stance on the defense of these cases."

Randolph Hall, chief assistant to Oakland City Attorney John Russo, 
couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.
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