Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jul 2016
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2016 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321
Author: Scott Schwebke

ATTORNEY FOR MEDICAL POT COLLECTIVE SAYS SANTA ANA OFFICERS SHOULD 
HAVE KEPT JOBS

SANTA ANA - Three Santa Ana police officers caught eating snacks 
during a raid on a marijuana dispensary last year  with two of them 
making fun of a woman with a disability  should have been retrained 
instead of leaving their jobs, a lawyer said Wednesday.

Former officers Brandon Matthew Sontag, Nicole Lynn Quijas and Jorge 
Arroyo were probably just following orders when they raided Sky High 
Holistic in May 2015, Matthew Pappas, a Long Beach attorney for the 
collective, said at a news conference.

"These three officers did not act alone and should not have their 
careers in law enforcement completely destroyed when the evidence 
shows the destructive raid was at the behest of higher-ups in city 
government," he said. "The officers should be disciplined, but not 
sacrificed so the people who directed and planned the destructive 
raids escape being held accountable."

Sontag and Quijas' last day with the Santa Ana Police Department was 
May 6, and Arroyo's was April 20, Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, the 
department's spokesman, said.

Bertagna declined to discuss if the officers were fired or left the 
department on their own and wouldn't comment on Pappas' assertion 
that the raid was ordered by their superiors.

A surveillance video, released by Pappas, shows the officers inside 
Sky High during the raid. The city alleges that the dispensary was 
selling marijuana without a permit.

In the video, which made national headlines, officers serving a 
search warrant are seen with guns drawn ordering Sky High customers 
and employees to the ground.

In addition, two of the officers can be heard in the video making 
demeaning remarks about Sky High volunteer Marla James, an amputee in 
a wheelchair.

The incident has been traumatizing, James said at Wednesday's news conference.

"It's scary," she said. "It took a while to undo what they did. It 
made me sad to think our lives and our safety are worth so little."

The officers disabled 16 video cameras inside Sky High, but four 
hidden cameras captured the incident, Pappas said.

In March, the Orange County District Attorney's Office filed petty 
theft charges against the trio.

Sontag was also accused of vandalism for allegedly breaking some of 
the store's surveillance cameras. Trial dates for the three former 
officers have not been set.

Meanwhile, James and a dozen other defendants associated with Sky 
High face trial for unlawful operation of a medical marijuana 
collective, a misdemeanor offense.
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