By Tony Hicks –
At least 45 police officers were on chains of racist, homophobic and threatening text messages that are part of a wider civil rights investigation into Antioch police, Contra Costa County Public Defender Ellen McDonnell told the Antioch City Council on Tuesday night.
McDonnell was one of dozens of people who spoke during an emotional special meeting, at which the council informally approved three proposals aimed at reining in and getting to the bottom of Police Department practices.
McDonnell said she saw the text messages last week, which only reinforced what her department has heard about Antioch police for years.
“The community and our clients have been sounding the alarm about your police department for years and years and years, and we need immediate and full disclosure and transparency,” McDonnell said. “People who have spoken tonight are victims of police brutality. They are victims of crimes at the hands of your police department, and we can’t downplay this issue.”
McDonnell said 16 of the officers are in leadership positions, including one from the police union and one from internal affairs, which is typically charged with investigating complaints against police.
“This isn’t a few officers; I want to be really clear. We’ve reviewed this,” said McDonnell, adding that her office “will do all that we can for the victims of this police racism, this targeted violence, and the lawlessness that we’ve seen.”
Prosecutors have said the text messages may have violated the California Racial Justice Act, a 2020 law barring the state from seeking or getting a criminal conviction based on a person’s race, ethnicity or national origin.
The council informally asked city staff to refine three audit requests involving the Police Department. One would audit the department’s internal affairs process. Another would look at its hiring and promotion process. A third would examine the department’s equity practices and culture.
The Antioch Police Department has been under investigation for civil rights violations by the FBI and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office for more than a year.
On Monday, the District Attorney’s Office released a 14-page report describing racists and homophobic text messages between at least 23 officers. Some described violence against arrestees. At least one threatened Antioch’s Mayor Lamar Thorpe.
At least eight officers have been suspended, one of whom is no longer employed by the department.
One of the reports released Monday details messages between eight officers during a conversation about two suspects in a criminal case in March 2021. One exchange shows officer Eric Rombough appearing to brag about brutalizing a suspect during an arrest.
“We managed to set up a perimeter and he got his a– whooped in the back yard and I field goal kicked his head,” Rombough allegedly texted.
“Gotta stop kicking n—— in their head,” he allegedly texted later.
Another report describes messages from 2019 and 2020, including one from Officer John Ramirez in which he seems to encourage others to fire a less-lethal weapon at Thorpe during a protest in 2020.
Ramirez allegedly texted to 22 officers that he would “buy someone a prime rib dinner” to “40” Thorpe, a reference to a 40mm launcher used by the department.
After protestors marched to City Hall before Tuesday’s meeting, dozens told the council they want change. Thorpe asked at least three people to leave for being unruly.
The council asked staff to work on the language of the three proposals to specify how to conduct the audits.
Antioch resident and activist Frank Sterling pointed out if 45 officers were on the text messages, that could mean roughly half the Antioch Police Department was at least aware they were being sent. Estimates of the department’s size from officials have varied in recent weeks, with the highest being 99 officers.
“I just hope something can be done,” Sterling said.
Well….and y’all thought this wasn’t/isn’t possible nowadays? I got news for you it’s a helluva lot more widespread than this!
While it doesn’t bother me it’s going on it certain was no surprise.
Are these texts from private phones? If so how were they leaked? Doesn’t CA law require consent for private texts to be released?
Private texts can be subpoenaed and used in court.
Just delete the messages and tell ’em they were private messages about your grandchildren or wedding plans or messages to your spouse who doesn’t even use text messaging….. see how that goes over.
Think I read somewhere that the phones used are owned by Antioch PD… so they can look at them, no problem.
You’d need to be a real rocket scientist to use the company phone to send racist messages tho.
Send them all to diversity training. That should work. You can’t get rid of half the police force. We don’t have to put up with what they have to. Their world is completely different than ours. We are not even close. The guy with the head kicking has got to go.
Let publish the photos of the racist cops.
This is people blowing off steam from work so they actually don’t go out there and kick someone’s head in. Because, it is the 40th time they have seen the same criminal (likely always black over there) and the 40th time he has fought being arrested, all the while calling the cops all the most horrible things you can think of. This is a simple psychological process that EVERYONE does to some extent, especially those in stressful jobs. I guarantee retail workers have the same stuff on their group chats.
I work retail, at my work place there’s no such thing going on. At least among the co workers I talk to, and it is quite a few. In any case it would not be tolerated at my work place.
Hanna
Understood where you are coming from, but your job does not have anywhere near the stress of a first responder. Sometimes stress makes folks vent differently. I am. I am not saying it is justified … but those not on those front lines need to understand life is different for them.
there are no constructive ways to relieve stress…?
Why would this not be constructive? No one is being harmed. This is people with an intense job venting. It is cathartic.
Only in the alternative universe where constructive leads to bad outcome and destructive results no scandal. But oh please continue…
So Paule
How would you like them to relieve stress?
1) Get Drunk
2) Get High
3) Lots of sex
4) Go Racing
5) Get violent
6) ?
These folks decided to talk to each other …. vent … no harm, no foul.
Now are some of these officers racist punks … yes, but are all 45 … NO.
Parent,
There are constructive ways to relieve stress; get drunk is one as long as one doesn’t become a mean drunk and drive; go racing is good too as long as it is done on a track.
Look at Mojo’s post as far as the potential harms as the consequences l.
Paul
And venting is a constructive way to relieve stress that is far cheaper than drinking, driving, racing etc … Not everyone can afford those ‘luxuries’. Who are you to say that venting is not a good option for them? Isn’t that just what we do on the site sometimes?
Sex is a great stress reliever…. unless the wife finds out!
…well there’s half the department…. need a wholesale hiring spree
WHY would any cop want to work for a woke city and a department with such a highly negative reputation. Would be a career limiting move for someone starting out in law enforcement.
.
Wouldn’t be surprised if Contra Costa Sheriff ends up patrolling antioch.
.
Time will tell how many lawsuits and overturned convictions there will be. This will drag on for years.
@original g Y’all think CCCSO is any different than APD? There ain’t a law enforcement agency out there that doesn’t have this going on.
Get used to it people, it’s just getting warmed up .
That may be, but antioch is gonna need law enforcement on the streets.
.
Fact that there was electronic communication of derogatory attitudes,
speaks to utter stupidity of those officers.
.
Sending a message electronically,
it better be something you’d be willing to post on a grocery store bulletin board with your name on it, which they by now have realized.
And on that point, do folks here realize how hard it will be for the DA to successfully prosecute criminals when their lawyers can simply say “Officer X is a proven racist; here are screenshots of him using the N word so you can see he was biased against my client.”
And I thought the Salem Witch Trials were over. Well I was wrong. They have just been refocused against Law Enforcement officers.
I call BS that all 45 officers sent these texts. And before you get high and mighty and say that they received it, they should report it … think about what you see daily. What do you see in your group texts? What crimes do you see occurring on the side of the road and fail to report? What is said around you, that violates laws, and you fail to report.
Yeah, they are LE, and yea they are all held to a higher standard. But how high of a standard do You want to hold them too …people complain when LE try’s to enforce laws and then jumps all over them when they make a mistake. You can’t have it both ways .
Rather than focus groups, perhaps it’s time for a real pilot program. Antioch needs much larger law enforcement coverage. So hire a couple dozen black police officers as an experimental group. Give them sensitivity training. The current police force after purging will be the control group. Run them in parallel for a couple of years and compare performance versus “racial” incidents.
If the Zimbardo Stanford experiment is any indication, the results between the two groups will likely be similar. In other words, not racial.
While the results may be telling, it will be rather unlikely the Antioch mayor will ask a black police officer to step outside………..
The meanest thing I ever saw a Cop do happened at Winterland when I went to see REO Speedwagon & Blue Oyster Cult (if memory serves me)…. it was many moons ago.
Anyway standing in line to get in, people were smoking dope and one hippy guy was drinking whiskey from a pint sized bottle.
One of the Cops working security saw the bottle and told the hippy dude to hand it over, but the guy said “No way man… I haven’t got a bottle!” as he slipped it into his baggy pants pocket. Cop said “OK” and discretely pulled out his night stick, then smacked the hippy guy right on the pocket shattering the bottle inside!
Everybody laughed, especially the Cop!
BTW- Just in case a Democrat reads this, Black Cop / White Hippy… so calm down.
@DR. JELLYFINGER….I remember a black security officer that was always at the door at Winterland, I don’t think he was a LEO, he was a really a cool guy. Winterland was my favorite venue back in the 70s, Bill Graham often handed out apples to people waiting to get in….good times!
Everyone is making great points but you can’t have a drunk driving sexual predator running the conversation such as the actual mayor of the city. What would happen if we all followed the leader.
For all you armchair warriors that have no clue what it’s like dealing with the dregs of society, I think now would be a great time to shut up, step up, and fill the empty LEO positions that Antioch needs for the safety of the community. Go ahead, set the example that you dream of while on your couch sipping your Bud Lights.
How come nobody applaud the da office for doing its job in rooting out officer’s misconduct? This is a big deal. How are you going to enforce the law which such prejudices? And if the other half of the officers from the department know about the misconduct but don’t speak up, they are just guilty as well.
Would not be surprised to find out DA found out from a woke progressive . . . . .
Draw your own conclusions . . . .
Simple Paul
The DA’s office is on a witch hunt, supported by the ‘mayor’. We should not be applauding the DA’s office for going after our LE departments when the same DA’s office refuses to prosecute the criminals. Now if they were putting away the murderers, rapist, gang bangers, drug dealers, illegal Immigration … I would have a different opinion. But you see they let those people go and go after LE because LE is venting …
A prudent human could only assume this is a rhetorical question. But in case it isn’t:
Because they have a political axe to grind.
if a cop texts another cop and says something offensive ( and i’m discounting texts that are criminal) who is injured?
No one
Oh no mean words vs a criminal haven town with crime getting worse by the minute.
Perhaps, someone should look at the Mayor. He doesn’t have a lot of respect. What did he do to anger so many people?
When there is this much anger, look to the source, not the results.
The politics of hurt feelings………………. again.
A person can’t even fart nowadays without it being racist, everything is racist they’ll find a way to make it racist and call it racist and won’t stop until everything is racist if you open your mouth.
I consider myself racist in some ways and I sure don’t give a damn what anybody thinks about it.
Seems like all you have to do is speak before a city council these days, to be singled out
This will not end well. Burris smells blood and has filed a federal lawsuit seeking damages. Some officers will lose their careers and anyone arrested in Antioch by any of these officers are now eyeballing a large paycheck and dismissal of charges. Even those who may not have been arrested are coming forward with claims of ongoing harassment and racial discrimination. True or not true, Antioch is in deep trouble. Prediction- Antioch will be destroyed in court and will end up filing for bankruptcy. Many criminals will be released from jail or prison and sentences overturned. Many of the officers that were not involved in the scandal will leave the department and the ones who stay will be hammered with overtime and will be ruthlessly harassed on the street by the haters. There is a storm coming. Maybe I’m wrong? Nah!
You are one hundred percent correct. There are already people on national news saying they were arrested only on the word of one of these cops. I hear Alameda is offering a $75,000 sign on bonus.
Ooh! Let’s replace them with social workers.
LOL, more destruction of America couresults of the FBI.
Crickets from the FBI regarding Hunter’s laptop and Anthony Weiner’s laptop.
PS: were the cell phones the Officers Personal cell phones or Department issued?
“…..courtesy of the FBI”.
No idea what kind of autocorrect that was.
And yeah…….we’ll probably Never hear if these Texts were on PERSONAL phones because the media and R baiters have to create a narrative.
It is not just the texts that are so shocking. What is shocking is that these ideas and thoughts are excreted out of their hearts. How are they hiring people who think like this? You can have two reactions to the situation, the city management is failing and there is an obvious problem in the Police Department. Nothing will get better until we admit they are both wrong.
@D there is no problem at all with the police department. The problem is with the criminals not staying in jail once arrested and too many people complaining that oh my God the police department is racist and we need to get rid of them. Oh my God what are we going to do the sky is falling
Get over it already people. Last time I checked text messaging is free speech.
John Burris is filing a lawsuit (no surprise there).
Put Lamar on the police force and see how long he lasts
Skimmed through the report. Found some rather concerning stuff (way worse than just them being offensive).
From page 7:
On 04/29/2020, at 5:10 p.m., APD Officer Amiri text Brentwood Police Department (BPD) Officer Lindzie Laughridge, “Since we don’t have video I sometimes just say people gave me a full confession when they didn’t. gets filed easier.”
From page 12:
On 07/02/2020, at approximately 9:55 a.m., APD Officer Rodriguez text APD Officer Prieto, “I don’t know if I can do the DRE (drug recognition evaluation) cuz he’s knocked out now. APD Officer Prieto responds, “No we’ll just say he refused to comply and take the blood. Sh█t aint going anywhere. If anything he’ll get hit for the 2800.4 (California Vehicle Code Section 2800.4 Evading an officer by driving opposite of traffic).”
At approximately 9:56 a.m., APD Officer Rodriguez responds,” Okay that’s cool then. What’s the case number again”. APD Officer Prieto responds, “5516 (APD Incident No. 2000-5516)”. For further details reference the Attached APD report.
From page 13:
On 08/22/2020, at 12:35 p.m., APD Officer Amiri to APD Officer Wenger, “If Pitt didn’t have all those body cams and that was us…we would have f██ked him up more. He didn’t get what he deserved.” This is a reference to the arrest of Jamari Allen in Pittsburg, California, who was taken into custody by use of APD Officer Amiri’s police k-9.
12:36 p.m., APD Officer Wenger responds, “I agree. That’s why I don’t like body cams.”
From page 20:
On 11/22/2021, at 12:15 p.m., APD Officer Rombough to APD Officer Scott Duggar, “F██k your people. I hate this city.” APD Officer Scott Duggar replies, “What they do today.”
At 12:16 p.m., APD Officer Rombough responds, “I’m only stopping them cuz they black. F██k them. Kill each other.”
Note: The copy of the report I downloaded was only images, preventing me from directly copying the text, so there might be mistranscriptions. The redactions were actually from the report. It’s worth a quick read.