Brady Violation Complaint Against Huntington Park Police Department Officers

Cosme the Clown

To Chief of Police Cosme Lozano:

My name is Arthur Schaper, a resident of Torrance, CA and an active member of We the People Rising, LA County for Trump, and American Children First.
I am filing this formal complaint against the following police officers of the Huntington Park Police Department.

1. Yourself, Chief of Police Cosme Lozano
2. Lieutenant Alfred Martinez Badge #: 5529
3. Sergeant Joseph Settles, Badge #:5200

Alfred "Full Capacity" Martinez

1. On June 6th, 2017, Lieutenant Alfred Martinez informed a large crowd of individuals who wanted to attend the city council meeting that the city council chambers was “at full capacity”, meaning that there was no room for any more people to sit in the city council chambers.

Statements from individuals inside the chambers informed me and others by text as well as with photos that there were indeed more chairs available. The Lieutenant clearly misled the citizens in the lobby. Such dishonesty must be confronted and censured.

2. During the same meeting, I was wrongly ruled out of order due to the unfounded allegations of Sergeant Joseph Settles, who had alleged that I was disrupting the city council meeting in session at that time.

The mayor, Marilyn Sanabria, followed your suggestion to issue me a first warning.

Another member of the audience—Tlaleac Oceotl--called out to the mayor, saying that I had already received a warning, which would make Chief Lozano and Settles’ warning my second warning—even though I had not received any warning at the time.

The mayor then ordered my removal from the city council chambers. For the record, neither you, nor Sergeant Settles, nor Mayor Sanabria ruled Tlaleac him out of order for the numerous times he was shouting out, especially when he was telling me to shut up. Furthermore, I had spoken to two police agents at the back of the room that two people behind me were cursing at me and shining a light in my eyes, but your officers did nothing about it.

I refused to leave the room because every citizen has a right to attend public meetings per the Ralph M. Brown Act, and no citizen is required to give up his First Amendment rights due to unjust, unlawful orders from police officers. The members of my group and other activists have routinely disobeyed unjust orders from Huntington Park police officers in the chambers, which have included demanding that we lower or remove signs, or that we sit down when more than one of our members has stood at the podium during public comment.

Sergeant Settles ordered me to leave, then surrounded me with other officers, trying to pressure me to leave. Then I was unjustly placed under arrest, subjected to a demeaning search, placed in hold in the Huntington Park jail cell for two hours, then released.

At no time did I receive a booking number of a bracelet. From police sources, I find this practice highly questionable. It’s as though the police department had no interest in filing a police report or seeking charges against me from the DA’s office, since the common practice in police departments is to provide both and then send charges to the DA.

Sergeant Joseph Settles -- the Clown

To add insult to this unjust injury, the negligent Police Department refused to file the paperwork with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, even though I was ordered to appear in court on September 6, 2017.

This is clearly a negligent, abusive tactic, as I appeared at the Downey, CA Court house in a timely manner on the assigned court date, only to find that my name was not listed on the Criminal Court Calendar.

These abusive behaviors warrant redress, censure, and consequences:

1. The unfounded allegations for me to be ruled out of order during the June 6th, 2017 city council meeting
2. My unfounded arrest and incarceration
3. The illegal seizure of my cellphone
4. The noncompliance of the police department to file charges against me to the LA County DA’s Office
5. The violation of my civil rights, including the attempt to prevent me and others from attending the June 6th, 2017 City council meeting, then the assault on my First Amendment right to petition my government for a redress of grievances.

All of these actions are the results of the unethical behaviors and choices of the Huntington Park Police Department, particularly the three police officers listed above.

For these reasons, I am seeking a Brady Violation strike against all three.

Respectfully submitted:

Arthur Schaper