NBCSanDiego has
uncovered new allegations of officer misconduct involving the San Diego Police
Department.
The accusations come from
a civil lawsuit filed by a police sergeant in Mesa, Arizona.
On June 4, Sgt. Javier
Cota said he was in San Diego for a wedding and went to the Gaslamp Quarter
with his nephew for dinner and drinks.
At about 3 a.m., Cota
and his nephew shared a pedicab with two women they had just met.
When the women got out
of the pedicab to get something out of a car, they were allegedly approached by
San Diego Police officers Ariel Savage and Justin Mattly.
"I heard one of the
girls tell the officer "I'm not interested, leave me alone" which
kind of drew my attention," Sgt. Cota said in an exclusive interview with
NBCSanDiego.
Sgt. Cota said the
officers then asked the women about their sobriety. The sergeant believed the
officers were harassing the women for a reason.
"The officer's
sexual advances had been rebuffed was the reason why he decided to check to see
if you (the women) were too drunk to drive," Cota said.
At that point Sgt. Cota
questioned the officers intentions. "Why are you treating these girls like
dip*****," Cota said in court documents.
Sgt. Cota said the
officers ordered him out of the pedicab and arrested him for interfering with
an investigation.
"They retaliated by
arresting me," Cota said.
Sgt. Cota claims
supervising officers didn't believe his accusations and he was put in a detox
tank, but claims he was not drunk.
"I probably had
five drinks over the whole course of the night, I had a full meal before we
started," Cota said.
Attorney Mary Frances
Prevost represents Sgt. Cota in a civil lawsuit against the city of San Diego
and the San Diego Police Department.
She said Sgt. Cota asked
San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne to conduct a full investigation into
his accusations.
"And Chief
Lansdowne says "not if you're going to sue me," Prevost said.
Sgt. Cota, who is
president of the Mesa Police Officer's Union, said his job is in jeopardy
because of the June arrest.
"Even with all this
that's going on, I have faith that somehow the truth will come out.. justice
will prevail and the good guys would win," said Cota.
Sgt. Cota is trying to
locate the two unidentified women who hitched a ride in his pedicab.
He believes they will
verify his story.
Meantime, NBCSanDiego
has also learned that Officer Ariel Savage is involved in another civil lawsuit
which accuses him of police brutality in a separate incident.
A spokesperson for San
Diego Police could not comment about the allegations because of the lawsuit.