Exclusive:
SFPD Officer Accused Of Excessive Force
Joe Vazquez
Reporting
(CBS 5) SAN FRANCISCO A San Francisco police officer has been reassigned after CBS 5 began investigating an arrest at a Giants baseball game that ended with a spectator getting knocked out by a police officer.
"He has been reassigned to a position where he will have limited contact with the public," said SFPD spokesman Steve Mannina.
An arrest at a recent baseball game at AT&T Park ended with a fan getting knocked out by a police officer, leading several fans to shoot dramatic photos and cell phone video of the bloody aftermath.
At least a dozen spectators of the July 13th game between the Giants and Dodgers interviewed by CBS 5 said they believed a police officer overreacted when he threw an elbow at a fan’s head during the arrest.
That fan, Michael Ochoa, 24, of Mountain View, can be seen in the pictures taken in the aftermath of the elbow. Blood is streaming down his face, as police officers escort him out of the game in handcuffs.
"It upsets me, I’ve never been so disrespected dude," said Ochoa.
Ochoa is a Dodger fan and U.S. Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq. He was attending the game with his friend, Armando Luna, a Dodgers fan. They were together in section 139 when, in the bottom of the 9th inning, Ochoa - playing to the crowd - removed his friend’s Dodgers cap and threw it down the stairs.
The usher - concerned there might be a fight - asked Ochoa to leave then called for backup. SFPD police officers - working at the ballpark - also asked him to leave.
"He did have a kind of a cocky attitude but he lifted up his arms like, ‘whatever,’ and as soon as he did that one of the officers came on his side and elbowed [Ochoa] right in his face," said Giovanna Borgna of Pinole.
Borgna said she was so upset by the violence of the incident, she grabbed her camera and started taking pictures. Her photos, provided to CBS 5 show Ochoa’s blood strewn face and his hands in cuffs. None of the pictures capture the officer’s initial blow to Ochoa’s head, as described by several fans.
"He hit him with his elbow like that and he just split him wide open and the guy was just totally knocked out," said Larry Scorza, a spectator in section 139. "It was totally uncalled for."
Ochoa said he made no sudden movements toward the police officer, and was not drunk.
"I had two beers. I'm a big guy and I can drink and two beers don't do much for me," Ochoa said.
Ochoa also says he never saw the officer’s blow to his head. He just remembers waking up after being knocked out.
The officer who made the arrest is Anton Collins, badge # 142. He usually patrols the Tenderloin District. Officer Collins arrested Ochoa and cited him with resisting arrest, a misdemeanor.
In a brief phone conversation, Collins told CBS5, "it was just an arrest" and that he did not overreact. He said he can't say any more about it.
Referring to an incident report, Police Department Spokesman Steve Mannina says Ochoa made an obscene gesture, described as grabbing his crotch. And then, Mannina says, Ochoa made a sudden, threatening move toward Collins.
"He pulled his fist back in a motion to say, 'get back, I'm going to strike you.' The officer had to take immediate action, and he did," said Mannina. "Somewhere through the course of the struggle, the suspect in this case fell down and apparently struck his face."
None of the witnesses we talked to say they ever saw Ochoa make a threatening move.
"If it looked like he was going to be aggressive, I'm all for police protecting themselves," said Krista Pollock of Walnut Creek. "However, it did not look that way at all."
Mannina said security cameras in the ballpark captured the altercation, but they can’t show the video to CBS 5 because it is evidence.
Officer Collins has twice been accused of excessive force in lawsuits. In 2006, the City of San Francisco paid out $14,000 in one case. In 2002, the city paid $200,000 to Teddy Querubin. Querubin told CBS 5 he was chaperoning his teenaged son's party, breaking up a fight when he says Collins punched him repeatedly in the face.
Ochoa says he has seen worse in his life as a Marine in Iraq. He's in college now, studying criminal justice at Foothill College. He says he is studying criminal justice and had aspirations of someday becoming a police officer, but now is disillusioned.
"That’s enough to crush my dream right there," said Ochoa. "I don’t want to be part of that if that’s the way things are, you know."