Santa Ana Police Department Fires Officers In Pot Video Case

[Liberal_in_LA]

Three Santa Ana police officers caught on tape last year destroying cameras, throwing darts, eating what look like pot edibles and insulting a disabled cannabis patient, have been fired, a Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) spokesperson has confirmed. Brandon Matthew Sontag, Nicole Lynn Quijas and Jorge Arroyo are no longer employed by SAPD, according to Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, an SAPD spokesperson, who declined further comment, saying he was unable to discuss "personnel matters."


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After raiding Sky High, arresting several individuals and dismantling all the video surveillance equipment they could find inside the dispensary, the officers apparently thought they had found all the cameras. But a backup surveillance system with cameras inside each room showed officers joking about kicking pot activist Marla James, an amputee confined to a wheelchair who has since sued Santa Ana, in her "nub." Then, after retrieving what appear to be pot edibles from a back room, the officers begin snacking on the treats, including one officer who joked that he felt "kinda light headed."

The three officers who no longer work for SAPD were never drug-tested however. But after a lengthy internal affairs investigation, prosecutors charged them with with misdemeanor counts of petty theft and vandalism. If convicted, they face between six months and a year in prison.

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/santa-ana-police-department-fires-officers-in-pot-video-case-7340514

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2255923.1434115485!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_1200/potshop13n-2-web.jpg

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Another drug war success story.

Im so happy when our tax dollars are used to drag wheelchair-bound grannies off to prison for using marijuana.

[bravenak]

2. And that kick in the nub was just a cost of living la vida weeda

God. I cannot believe they KICKED her in her NUB! Wtf kind of fresh hell do we libe in? Damn!

[Warren DeMontague]

6. Thuggery.

[tblue37]

9. They didn't, but the female cop joked about how she wanted to. nt

[bravenak]

11. People like that should have been screened out in the hiring process

[tblue37]

12. It's not a bug, it's a feature. When the entire PD is tainted by a

pervasively abusive, bigoted, bullying culture, those at the highest rank are often the worst offenders, and they make sure those who get hired and promoted think the same way they do.

When the KC police chief spoke at the CNN town hall, he told horror stories of how such patterns play out in PDs and how hard it is to fix the problem (and how dangerous to try), even if you are the Chief or Police..

[Hassin Bin Sober]

5. " The only way to catch a doper is when you yourself become a smoker...

The surest way to make them bleed is when you bust their ass and steal their weed."

Sgt. Stedenko

[Warren DeMontague]

7. CODE NAME HARD HAT. HARD HAT!

"What's that, Lardass?"

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. Lol. "Bye bye lardass"

Of course, the last laugh will be on us in five years when their lawsuit is settled with back pay and disability income from their inadvertent on the job "poisoning"

[Rex]

3. I remember that, so no drug test eh?

I wonder how many cops would lose their job tomorrow if there was a national 'piss in a cup' test Friday?

[Initech]

4. This is my hometown, but I feel like this scandal I'm living in Springfield.

[billhicks76]

10. From Just Us To Justice

[TeamPooka]

13. I wonder which police dept will hire them now. You know one out there will. nt

[cherokeeprogressive]

14. That's exactly how the Rodney King situation came to be.

Police officers fired by one jurisdiction, and hired by another.

[TeamPooka]

15. thats right. there's always a bad dept in CA that will take the rejects. Especially the OC