Click on the hyperlinked names below to review complaints filed against the individual officers and the City of Santa Clara itself. In addition to serving complaints to the City of Santa Clara and its police department, copies were also provided to each member of the city council and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office.
Greg Deger Complaint Filed April 7, 2015
Derek Rush Filed April 7, 2015
Colin Stewart Filed April 7, 2015
Lauren Larsen (aka Lauren Eldridge) Filed April 7, 2015
David Schneider Filed April 7, 2015
City of Santa Clara Filed April 7, 2015
Intentional Destruction of Evidence
Less than a month after Mr. Bondaug’s incident with SCPD, former prosecutor, Bob Tennant, and his law partner Michelle Brenot, constructed a letter demaning the preservation of evidence to include use of force reports and all internal City and Police Department correspondence. Read the Demand for Preservation of Evidence letter here.
City of Santa Clara IT manager would testify that former assistant city attorney, Julia Hill, instructed him to limit queary parameters regarding reference to Mr. Bondaug’s case and let other potentially related email move towards regularly scheduled destruction. Captain Wahid Kazem testified that he was provided the Demand for Preservation of Evidence letter by police chief Michael Sellers but only requested officers save any related documents to their local computer hard drive, if they wanted to. He never followed up to ensure preservation of use of force reports or any other internal communication and officers testified that he never game them that instruction.
Refusal to Reply to Complaints
Julia Hill, then assistant city attorney, replied with a letter stating the city will not refer the complaints to an independent agency despite admissions by police supervisors that email evidence and the use of force document was destroyed after receiving a Demand for Preservation of Evidence letter from attorneys. Copied in her letter were Mayor Jamie Matthews, City Manager Julio Fuentes, and Police Chief Michael Sellers. During a civil trial, the City’s own use of force expert witness (Robert Fonzi) testified that use of force was unreasonable and a second police practices expert witness (T.T. Williams) testified that officer Greg Deger and Lauren Larsen fabricated evidence and statements. Here’s Julia Hill’s letter…
First Amendment to the Constitution
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
A careful reading of the First Amendment reveals that it protects several basic liberties — freedom of religion, speech, press, petition, and assembly.
Freedom of Assembly and Petition
Freedom of assembly and petition are closely related to freedom of speech, and have been protected in similar ways. Former Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes wrote, “Peaceable assembly for lawful discussion cannot be made a crime.”
http://www.ushistory.org/gov/10b.asp