Vallejo Resident Negotiates the Largest Settlement in
a Police Misconduct Case in California in the Past Decade
VALLEJO,
Calif., May 24, 2012 -- Vallejo Police Department Agrees to pay 61-Year-Old
Man $4.15 million To Compensate for Severe Police-Inflicted Injuries and
Violation of Federal Civil Rights
VALLEJO,
Calif., May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Peter Alfert, of the law
firm of Hinton, Alfert and Kahn and Todd Boley, of the Law Office of Todd Boley
announced that their client, Macario Dagdagan, received a check for a $4.15
million settlement from the Vallejo Police Department, the largest police misconduct settlement in California in
the past decade. The Federal Civil Rights settlement provides compensation for
an unlawful entry into the home of Mr. Dagdagan that led to him sustaining
serious spinal injuries and immediate paralysis.
On the
evening of June 2, 2007, Officers John Boyd and Jason Wentz
entered Mr. Dagdagan's residence shortly before midnight after responding to a
call. They awoke Mr. Dagdagan, who was asleep in his bed, to ask him about a
citizen complaint. Mr. Dagdagan then told the officers to leave, but they
arrested him, fired a Taser at him twice and handcuffed him. The police
officers then engaged in illegal and violent use of force that dislodged Mr.
Dagdagan's vertebrae and ruptured his disk, causing immediate paralysis and
permanent damage to his spinal cord.
Attorney
Peter Alfert stated, "Our client sued because his civil rights were
violated. Through this settlement, he wants to send a clear message that all of
us must not tolerate police misconduct and we will hold police accountable. The
police had no justification for going into the apartment, for arresting
Macario, and certainly no reason to break his neck."
On the
night of the incident, after the arrest, a police sergeant arrived at Mr.
Dagdagan's apartment. He heard the victim say that his neck was broken and
observed and photographed Mr. Dagdagan's bloody face. However, neither the
sergeant nor anyone in the department conducted an investigation to determine
whether the officers used excessive force.
Attorney
Todd Boley stated, "Under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, the
police officers had no right to enter Mr. Dagdagan's home without a warrant
unless it was an immediate emergency or someone was in danger. It is also
widely accepted that police officers may only use sufficient force to carry out
an arrest and nothing more. In this case, the police violated
their oath to uphold the Constitution by entering Mr. Dagdagan's home without
due cause, and they used excessive force. No one should have to endure such
pain and have their rights violated in such an egregious fashion."
A
Vietnam War veteran who worked his whole life before the incident, Mr. Dagdagan
is now permanently disabled and expects to have increasingly more expensive
healthcare costs in the coming years as a result of the severe injuries he
incurred.
Dagdagan
said, "I felt humiliated and degraded by the officers, and now I have to
live with these terrible injuries for the rest of my life. The police officers
haven't shown any guilt or compassion for what they did to me, and the police force didn't launch an investigation
even after I was hospitalized. I live in constant pain and am afraid even in my
own home. Holding the Vallejo police department accountable for their actions
is the only thing I can do to ensure this doesn't happen to someone else."
The
settlement comes after a pretrial order in which Federal District Court Judge
Garland Burrell, Jr. of the 9th Circuit Eastern District Court of California
ruled that the officers violated Mr. Dagdagan's constitutional rights by
entering his residence and arresting him without a warrant.
"This
is yet another example of police abusing their trust and their position and
putting their own needs before the needs of those they serve. In this case, we
had an overwhelming amount of evidence, including the injuries to
Macario," said Boley. "We are concerned that Vallejo officers and
every other law enforcement agency take steps to ensure that a similar
disregard for the law doesn't happen again. There should not be a
double-standard in relation to civil rights and the law. We want accountability
and transparency for those who serve."
Officers
Boyd and Wentz were hired by the Richmond police department after the case;
however, the City of Vallejo, which is currently dealing with bankruptcy that
resulted from costly police pensions, will pay the $4.15 million settlement
through their insurance.
This
settlement comes during a time when the failures of police departments and law enforcement
officers have received vast amounts of media coverage resulting from their lack
of accountability, particularly in failing to launch full investigations into
incidents involving police officers.
Had enough?
Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S.
House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal hearings into
the police problem in America. Demand
mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent DOJ office on Police Misconduct.