DPD Sustains Complaint Against Officer Involved in May Tasering Incident

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Bush-Titiana-3

Vanguard Confirms Officer No Longer Employed by City – The Vanguard has received a copy of the city’s letter to Tatiana Bush, one of two individuals involved in an incident that occurred May 23, 2012 at the Glacier Point Apartments.

At the time, the Davis Police released an unusually detailed explanation of the incident.  However, that was refuted a few days later by Tatiana Bush, a member of the Cruz Reynoso Task Force that looked into the November 18, 2011 Pepper Spray Incident.

Police Chief Landy Black, in a letter dated February 5, 2013 writes, “Based on the evidence, it became clear the conduct of the first arriving officer with whom you interacted did not meet the highest standards of conduct and service we expect from our members.”

“In particular, I determined your complain of improper conduct had merit; the officer used an aggressive tone throughout and did not meet our highest standards for interacting with the public,” Chief Black wrote.  “Therefore, that portion of the investigation was sustained, meaning that there is clear and convincing evidence that the officer engaged in conduct prohibited under our Department’s Rules and Regulations.”

Chief Black, however, noted that allegations of bias against the first arriving officer, whom Ms. Bush identified for the Vanguard as Lee Benson, was not sustained, meaning that the evidence neither clearly supported or refuted the allegation, so the allegation of bias against the second arriving officer was found to be unfounded, meaning no evidence existed to support the allegation.

Chief Black apologized stating, “We strive for a display of good manners and professionalism, accompanied by thorough investigative police work.  That didn’t occur here.  I apologize for that and you being placed in the situation you were, for the breach of professional police service that the Davis Police Department prides itself in, and the impact that it had on you.”

According to department records provided to the Davis Vanguard, the first arriving officer, again, identified by Ms. Bush as Lee Benson, is no longer employed in the city or the department as of January 18, 2013.

Given the Police Officer’s Bill of Rights and other personnel privacy laws, neither the department nor the city was able to comment as to whether Officer Benson was fired or left voluntarily.

In late August, 2012, the Yolo County District Attorney’s office declined to file charges against UC Davis students Jerome Wren and Tatiana Bush.  Mr. Wren was facing felony resisting arrest (PC section 69) and Ms. Bush was facing misdemeanor charges of interfering with police officers.

The police were responding to a 911 call in which the caller reported observing a male and a female in an argument and then a physical confrontation. The reporting party gave specific clothing and physical descriptions of both the male and female involved, according to Davis Police sources.

As officers arrived, they observed two people (subsequently identified as Tatiana Bush and Jerome Wren) who matched the description provided by the reporting party. Officers attempted to detain and separate the two so they could investigate.

According to the police, “Wren refused to follow the Officer’s commands and became argumentative. When the officers attempted to physically detain him, Wren resisted the officer by pushing them.”

The press release continues, “Officers wrestled with Wren and were able to restrain him, handcuff him, and place him in the back seat of a patrol car.”

During this time, the Davis police officers said they were struggling to get Mr. Wren under control.  In the meantime, Ms. Bush also interfered with the police’s efforts.

“Despite numerous requests for her to keep her distance and not interfere, Tatiana Bush interfered by physically placing herself in close proximity to the struggle,” the police report.

Her efforts to intervene were so substantial, the police described, that, “At one point, Bush was so close she became pinned in between the struggling officers, Wren, and a police car.”

However a week later, Ms. Bush strongly disputed those charges, telling the California Aggie, that “she and the male subject weren’t fighting, but rather were having an emotional discussion. She also said the DPD two-day delay of a press release on the incident is very telling of what occurred that night, as she said it contained fabrications of the truth.”

In August she told the Vanguard that the day of May 23 had been a stressful one with uncertainty involving the health of her mother and her living status.

She went to her friend Jerome Wren’s home that evening, and she insists that she and Mr. Wren were not fighting, but rather they were yelling and having an emotional discussion.

She told the Vanguard that Mr. Wren had attempted to hug her to calm her down, but she pushed him off her.

Four police cars immediately approached as they were standing in front of the apartment office, and immediately they ordered Mr. Wren to go there.  She described confusion as they walked toward the officer, when the officer grabbed him and put Mr. Wren into a hold.

As Ms. Bush told the Aggie, “We were just standing in front of the Glacier Point office when police approached us and immediately started screaming at him to ‘come here, come here, come here.’ We were confused. As he walked toward the officer, the officer grabbed him and tried to detain him.”

Tatiana Bush told the Vanguard that she approached the police with her hands in the air to show that she was not resisting, while asking why they were being arrested.

Three of the officers went to take Mr. Wren into custody.

“They put him in the back of a police car,” she said. “Then they grabbed me by the neck and pushed me against a police car.”

She said that she does not remember part of what happened next but has pieced it together.  A witness had later asked her how her head was.  It was at this point she realized that she had a bruise and a lump on her head.

She believes her head was hit on the police car, though she does not know if it was intentional or unintentional.

What she does know is that she suffered bruises to her neck and legs, and the doctor the next day diagnosed her with a concussion.  She had to drop a class as the result and almost did not graduate this past June.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wren was handcuffed with five officers on top of him.  While in the car, Mr. Wren was grabbed, pulled back out of the vehicle and thrown to the ground outside the car.  When he tried to stand up, he was taken to the ground by four or five officers, and at this point he was Tasered.

Ms. Bush told the Vanguard that the officer who drove her to the Davis Police Station, and ultimately issued her a notice to appear, treated her well.  She said that the other officers who arrived later did not know why they were there.

She said that the officer told her that this was not a racial thing and noted that he had black friends.

The Aggie reported, “Barbara Bonaparte, a junior African American studies and human development double major and president of the UC Davis Black Student Union, is the male student’s roommate and was present during the incident. She said police gave no reasoning for the arrest.”

Ms. Bonaparte told the Aggie “she witnessed Bush thrown against the police car, which Bush said resulted in massive bruises on her neck, jaw and wrists, along with a concussion.”

Ms. Bonaparte accused Sheriff’s Deputies at the Yolo County jail of lying “when she asked if he [Wren] was in jail since she later talked to Bush who said he was in custody.”

“I can only imagine if this happened to someone who didn’t know Chancellor Katehi,” Ms. Bush told the Aggie. “I’m glad this happened to me because I have the ability to do something. This is [stuff] I’d never have expected as a college student, especially after what I’ve done for this campus.”

“Police in Davis don’t communicate with us or each other,” she said. “I think it’s very telling that coming off of the Reynoso Task Force, this is the next phase. It’s disgusting how they treat African American students and I won’t stand for such things; this can’t happen again.”

Ms. Bonaparte told the Aggie that “her first encounter with police was during the Occupy protests and her impression of police in Davis was already not good. She said this recent experience was awful and her roommate has never been in any type of trouble.”

While the Davis Police and the city of Davis are understandably limited by the Police Officer’s Bill of Rights, that did not stop them from putting out an account in the days following the May 23 incident that now appears at odds with their own investigation.  The question is to what extent, if at all, they have an obligation to clarify the public record.

—David M. Greenwald reporting

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About The Author

David Greenwald is the founder, editor, and executive director of the Davis Vanguard. He founded the Vanguard in 2006. David Greenwald moved to Davis in 1996 to attend Graduate School at UC Davis in Political Science. He lives in South Davis with his wife Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald and three children.

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64 thoughts on “DPD Sustains Complaint Against Officer Involved in May Tasering Incident”

  1. SouthofDavis

    David wrote:

    > She told the Vanguard that Mr. Wren had attempted to
    > hug her to calm her down, but she pushed him off her.

    A friend grew up with a dad that used to hit her and her Mom (until her Mom finally divorced the guy when we were in High School). She went to law school with a mission to try and put guys like her dad (that hit women and kids) in jail. After two years as an asst. DA in SF she quit since 90% of the women would tell the jury that they “fell down the stairs” or broke their nose when “their husband was trying to hug then and his fist hit their nose”…

    P.S. I wonder how much Davis will pay her to make up for the officer using “an aggressive tone” to a person of color (who was keeping it real and acting like Chris Brown with a girlfriend that was not showing “respect”)…

  2. Mr Obvious

    So other than Officer Benson being rude the police actions were ok. It sounds like this came out as a domestic violence call, the most dangerous call for a police officer. Bush admitted to pushing Wren. Did the police see the pushing or was it reported as a physical altercation? If they did it would seem that taking an even more authoritative approach would be more appropriate.

    David, if I were to talk to you in a rude manner and you punched me in the face for talking in a rude manner would it be my fault that you punched me?

  3. rusty49

    “David, if I were to talk to you in a rude manner and you punched me in the face for talking in a rude manner would it be my fault that you punched me?”

    Mr. O….you beat me to it, I was just going to post the same thing.

  4. wesley506

    [quote]P.S. I wonder how much Davis will pay her to make up for the officer using “an aggressive tone” to a person of color (who was keeping it real and acting like Chris Brown with a girlfriend that was not showing “respect”)…[/quote]

    $30,000/directly involved party seems to be the going rate. Maybe we should toss in $10,000 each for anyone who was emotionally traumatized by observing this police brutality.

  5. Mr Obvious

    [quote]I’m certain he was involved, he is now Police Auditor rather than Ombudsman, but I don’t know to what extent or what his role was.[/quote]

    How do you know this David? Did you talk with the Police Auditor? Did you talk to those involved? How do you know?

  6. Morpheus

    The type of loud and disruptive behavior, in a residential neighborhood, at night, was completely inappropriate. Does Ms. Bush or Mr. Wren even care about the people who live around them? What about all of the neighbors, and more specifically, the homeowners? What about the family next door that is trying to enjoy their quiet evening? What about the young parents who FINALLY got their 12 month old to sleep, only to have them startled awake by the yelling outside? What about the college students trying to study for the next day’s exam? What about the single mom who is working two jobs to support her kids who is just DEAD TIRED and wants to sleep? If Ms. Bush really cared about those around her, she wouldn’t act like her neighborhood is a Maury Povich set.

    Just a thought on “restorative justice” to consider: maybe Ms. Bush should distribute her “winnings” from the City of Davis to the neighbors that she disturbed with her daytime reality show behavior?

  7. Mr Obvious

    [quote]As I understand it by the time the police arrived their dispute was over. The police then reescalated the incident.[/quote]

    They detained two individuals that were reported to being in a physical altercation. If the two individuals didn’t like the way they were being talked to that is a matter for another day, not while you are being detained.

  8. Morpheus

    “”We were just standing in front of the Glacier Point office when police approached us and immediately started screaming at him to ‘come here, come here, come here.’ We were confused.”

    So, Ms. Bush, you weren’t screaming at the top of your lungs…oh, sorry, “yelling and having an emotional discussion” OUTSIDE, in a RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD, at NIGHT? You were just standing there minding your own business, bothering nobody? The police were the ones screaming? And what part of “come here” was confusing?

    The attitude that her behavior was acceptable is the root of the problem. Ms. Bush should not be rewarded with our tax dollars for her boorish behavior.

  9. SouthofDavis

    biddlin wrote:

    > Ah Davis, home of open minds and compassionate hearts !

    Then Morpheus wrote:

    > The type of loud and disruptive behavior, in a
    > residential neighborhood, at night, was completely
    > inappropriate.

    How does biddlin think we should be more “compassionate” to people who make a lot of noise when hitting their girlfriends outside an apartment building?

  10. Siegel


    They detained two individuals that were reported to being in a physical altercation. If the two individuals didn’t like the way they were being talked to that is a matter for another day, not while you are being detained.”

    It seems that neither the IA, the police command structure, or the DA’s office agrees with you.

  11. Siegel

    “The attitude that her behavior was acceptable is the root of the problem. Ms. Bush should not be rewarded with our tax dollars for her boorish behavior. “

    So the price to be paid for yelling is to be tasered and to have her head slammed into the roof of a police vehicle and receive a concussion?

  12. Siegel


    How does biddlin think we should be more “compassionate” to people who make a lot of noise when hitting their girlfriends outside an apartment building?”

    Don’t think they were a couple. And your description doesn’t appear accurate, Ms. Bush described herself as upset, Mr. Wren tried to calm her down, she pushed him off, they calmed down, the police arrived and started cracking heads first and asking questions later. Then again, perhaps if Morpheus was the complaining call, we can see why.

  13. medwoman

    From the Chief of Police

    [quote]Based on the evidence, it became clear the conduct of the first arriving officer with whom you interacted did not meet the highest standards of conduct and service we expect from our members.”[/quote]

    From Rusty
    [quote]No, Mr. Wren and Ms. Bush’s actions led to the use of a taser and force.[/quote]

    It would appear from the investigation ( not a private citizens opinion) that there was a disproportionate response from at least some of the police officers on the scene. Each individual involved is responsible for their own actions. Should Ms. Bush and Mr. Wren have been standing outside shouting. Of course not.
    This is bad behavior. However, I think it is safe to say that neither of them made the police use a taser.

    The police, as individuals are solely responsible for their response. There is one major difference. The police are paid for what they do and supposedly extensively trained to handle these types of situations.
    This is presumably not true of Ms. Bush and Mr. Wren. The police are allowed to have and use weapons intended to force others into compliance. To me this means that the police should be held to a higher standard of behavior than those they are charged with protecting.

    If we were to apply Rusty’s situation to a family would the same analogy hold. Let’s suppose that we have a temper tantrum being thrown by a toddler in public. The parents have a few options. They can attempt to reason with the toddler, they could use distraction, they could pick up and physically move the toddler,
    they could give a single light tap on the butt, or they could take off their belt and beat the toddler into submission. Some of these actions are doubtless more appropriate than others. But if they chose to beat the toddler, would Rusty then say that the toddler was responsible for the beating. To me, with greater power goes greater responsibility. And with greater power and responsibility, there should consistently be the expectation of a higher degree of the use of reason and restraint.

  14. rusty49

    Siegel
    “So the price to be paid for yelling is to be tasered and to have her head slammed into the roof of a police vehicle and receive a concussion?”

    No, once again they weren’t tasered or subdued for their yelling, the actions the police took was a result of:

    “Wren refused to follow the Officer’s commands and became argumentative. When the officers attempted to physically detain him, Wren resisted the officer by pushing them” and “”Officers wrestled with Wren and were able to restrain him, handcuff him, and place him in the back seat of a patrol car.”

    During this time, the Davis police officers said they were struggling to get Mr. Wren under control. In the meantime, Ms. Bush also interfered with the police’s efforts.

    “Despite numerous requests for her to keep her distance and not interfere, Tatiana Bush interfered by physically placing herself in close proximity to the struggle,” the police report.

    Her efforts to intervene were so substantial, the police described, that, “At one point, Bush was so close she became pinned in between the struggling officers, Wren, and a police car.”

  15. Morpheus

    “So the price to be paid for yelling is to be tasered and to have her head slammed into the roof of a police vehicle and receive a concussion?”

    No, Seigel, it’s not that simple. It starts with the self-centered attitude that there is nothing wrong about acting like an idiot in public, loudly and with “emotion.” Add to that a lack of disregard for everyone around you, no matter the time of night, and no matter the location (in a residential meighborhood). Add to that an apparent defiant attitude (to a rude cop), where you refuse to do what they tell you to do and then physically interefere with what they are doing. Then, yes, you might end face down on the hood a police car. And if you fight with the police, you might end up tasered.

    I’ll say it again. The attitude that her behavior was acceptable is the root of the problem. Ms. Bush should not be rewarded with our tax dollars for her boorish behavior.

  16. Rifkin

    [quote]“Police in Davis don’t communicate [b]with us[/b] or each other,” she said. “I think it’s very telling that coming off of the Reynoso Task Force, this is the next phase. It’s disgusting [b]how they treat African American students[/b] and I won’t stand for such things; this can’t happen again.”[/quote]————————
    This is a very telling and ignorant comment.

    It first assumes that she speaks for all black people in Davis and she is an expert on how all African-Americans perceive the Davis police.

    Second, even if there are substianted cases of police officers mistreating some individuals who happen to be black, she presumes that mistreatment is because they are black and that others who are not black (or not some other “subjugated” group) are not mistreated.

    Her statement implies that what happened in this case happened because of her skin color. She implies, by singling out “how they treat African-American students,” that the Davis police, when they don’t follow protocol or do abuse the rights of a citizen, are misbehaving because they are racially biased.

    I don’t object to anyone, who has been mistreated by the police or believes he has been mistreated, from speaking out honestly, and, if appropriate, seeking recompense for that. However, without hard evidence of bias, I object very much to anyone of any race presuming that those who do things incorrectly to someone of another race are doing so because they are racists.

    Bad things happen to people of all stripes all the time. Very rarely is the bad thing done in Davis because the bad actor hates someone based on race.

    One thing I have learned in my 48 years in dealing with people: there are a lot more assh*les in our country than there are racists. I’ve dealt with plenty of asshh*lish cops–black, white and other–with bad attitudes. (When I lived for years in the ghetto in West Oakland, I regularly saw cops of all colors using excessive force on citizens.)

    The reality is the vast majority of time a cop (or anyone else) is abusive, he’s probably just an assh*le who is not well suited for his job. It’s far less likely (especially in a community such as Davis with a good police chief who picks his officers) that he is motivated by racial animus.

  17. David M. Greenwald

    Rich: I probably open a new can of worms here, but I think that’s a very accurate description of how people of color feel about the police. You are correct that she and others may not have direct evidence, but they have a viewpoint and seemingly confirmatory evidence. When race matters all of your life, it’s difficult to be easily granting benefits of the doubt. Perception is a huge problem here. It’s easy for you as a white man to sit back and distill out cause and effect, it’s harder I think when you are in the middle of it and you see it every turn.

  18. SouthofDavis

    Tatiana Bush said:

    > It’s disgusting how they treat African American
    > students and I won’t stand for such things

    Then Rich wrote:

    > she presumes that mistreatment is because they
    > are black and that others who are not black (or
    > not some other “subjugated” group) are not
    > mistreated.

    Then David wrote:

    > Rich: I probably open a new can of worms here,
    > but I think that’s a very accurate description
    > of how people of color feel about the police.

    Do people of color see white people yelling and hitting people at night that the police just ignore (have they ever heard some cops say “just a white student yelling and beating his girlfriend let’s move along and look for some black students to arrest for no reason”)?

  19. Rifkin

    DG: “It’s easy for you as a white man to sit back and distill out cause and effect …”

    To be clear, I don’t claim to know the cause. I also am doubtful that Ms. Bush knows it easier. Yet it’s VERY EASY, apparently, for her to imply that the cause is a racist animus, when chances are very strong it was not.

    [i]”… it’s harder I think when you are in the middle of it and you see it every turn.”[/i]

    That is just saying that you don’t think she is being objective.

    An interesting, but certainly not parallel, case to consider for comparison is the pepper spray incident at UC Davis. I don’t recall the racial make-up of all of those who were sprayed. I believe all or most were whites. I know the primary sprayer, Lt. Pike, was white.

    What I wonder is if Ms. Bush thinks that case was an example of racism? Did Lt. Pike abuse his power because of his bias against the race of those he sprayed?

    If all or most of the people who were sprayed were non-whites, and Pike was still the sprayer, would Ms. Bush say he only did that because of racial bias?

    Given the white-on-white* nature of the pepper-spray incident, no one, not even those who think everything is about race, claim Pike sprayed those protestors due to their race.

    But I have no doubt whatsoever, given her ease at inmplying the cop in her case acted as he did because she is black, that Ms. Bush would have said or implied that Pike’s actions were racist, if most of the sprayees had not been paleskins.
    ———–
    *On-white might be someone off. It might have been white-on-mostly whites and some non-whites.

  20. Rifkin

    Oops: “To be clear, I don’t claim to know the cause. I also am doubtful that Ms. Bush knows it [b]easier[/b].”

    That should be: “To be clear, I don’t claim to know the cause. I also am doubtful that Ms. Bush knows it [b]either[/b].”

  21. Rifkin

    Oops again: “… given her ease at [b]inmplying[/b] the cop in her case …”

    That should be: “… given her ease at [b]implying[/b] the cop in her case …”

  22. JustSaying

    [quote][b]”DPD Sustains Complaint Against Officer Involved in May Tasering Incident”[/b][/quote]What was the complaint that DPD “sustained” here? The story suggests Ms. Bush’s complaint of misconduct dealt with racism. How is this supported by the DPD news release you’ve posted? [quote]“The Davis Police Department has audio recordings of the incident along with partial video recordings. All information and evidence available was analyzed by internal investigators to provide as complete a picture as possible of this incident and all the factors contributing to its development and outcome….The Davis Police Department issued a press release on May 25, 2012, describing the incident that led to the arrest of Ms. Bush and Mr. Wren. There is no information in the original press release that needs to be corrected….The internal investigation did not uncover any evidence that contradicted the recordings or the account of the incident as described in the press release….there was no evidence that bias or the race of any involved person played a part in the handling of this incident….” [/quote]

  23. rusty49

    “The bigger problem was that the aggressive tone led to the use of a taser on Mr. Wren and the use of force against Ms. Bush”

    No, Mr. Wren and Ms. Bush’s actions led to the use of a taser and force.

  24. David M. Greenwald

    “Do people of color see white people yelling and hitting people at night that the police just ignore (have they ever heard some cops say “just a white student yelling and beating his girlfriend let’s move along and look for some black students to arrest for no reason”)?”

    It’s not that they are just ignored, but I can’t remember a situation that led to a tasering – that’s the issue here, the disparate use of force.

  25. David M. Greenwald

    “I also am doubtful that Ms. Bush knows it easier. Yet it’s VERY EASY, apparently, for her to imply that the cause is a racist animus, when chances are very strong it was not.”

    Rich: I’m sure you don’t know that. And I don’t think it’s animus so much as stereotyping.

  26. JustSaying

    “The story I wrote here says that the complaint of racial bias was both sustained and unfounded.”

    But, it seems as though the only part of her complaint that was sustained was that “the officer used an aggressive tone throughout and did not meet our highest standards for interacting with the public,” and that the more serious allegations of bias were specifically and pointedly NOT sustained by the investigation and findings.

    Incidents like these certainly verify the value of video and audio recordings of police-citizen encounters. As the Vanguard has pointed out many times, participants and eye-witnesses are notoriously poor at accurately recounting tense situations.

    I’m not sure that you’ve documented your suggestion that the officer’s conduct was “inappropriate and serious enough” to have caused his departure from the force. Did someone who knows that he was fired or asked to quit due to this investigation verify the causual relationship you’ve concluded?

  27. David M. Greenwald

    “So other than Officer Benson being rude the police actions were ok. It sounds like this came out as a domestic violence call, the most dangerous call for a police officer.”

    Police officers don’t lose their job over being rude. He left the department two weeks before the IA letter was written.

    “Bush admitted to pushing Wren. Did the police see the pushing or was it reported as a physical altercation? If they did it would seem that taking an even more authoritative approach would be more appropriate. “

    As I understand it by the time the police arrived their dispute was over. The police then reescalated the incident.

  28. David M. Greenwald

    “How do you know this David? Did you talk with the Police Auditor? Did you talk to those involved? How do you know?”

    I talked to the Auditor who is limited in what he can tell. I spoke with Bush, Wren, Chief Black and Captain Pytel and Paul Doroshov who wrote the original release.

    What I could is quoted in the article.

  29. David M. Greenwald

    “David, if I were to talk to you in a rude manner and you punched me in the face for talking in a rude manner would it be my fault that you punched me?”

    If that’s what happened, I don’t think this would have come down as it did.

  30. JustSaying

    Yes, of course, I’m sure that police acts of racial bias are more serious than aggressive-tone violations of “good manners and professionalism.” (You can’t fool me: you are as sure of this as I am.)

    I’m just asking if you have anything to report beyond your admitted rank speculation (because he wasn’t on a Jan. 18 staff list) to support your conclusion that he was fired or forced to quit because of this investigation. I’ll have to wait for something better than simple coincidence to see the causal linkage that you feel is apparent here.

  31. wesley506

    My guess is the officer knew he was about to get a some sort of formal notice of “failing to be kind, courteous, and professional at all times when interacting with the citizens of Oz”, and decided he would rather be a peace officer somewhere else.

  32. JustSaying

    Point clarified. But, so what? Have you anything else to report?

    Can I assume that you’ve reconsidered your feelings about the relatively seriousness of police bias complaints being sustained after investigation? Really?

  33. David M. Greenwald

    There is nothing else to report because the officials are proscribed by law.

    I haven’t reconsidered my feelings about the seriousness of police bias. I continue to believe that two white people (they were not a couple) would not have been subjected to that level of force. But that’s an opinion and I accept that they can’t prove it.

  34. JustSaying

    That officials “are proscribed by law” from reporting a firing means that they likewise cannot correct your premature, unsupported conclusion if it’s false. Maybe some more digging would have confirmed (or dismissed) the conclusion you’ve rushed to draw.

    These two did not have to “prove it” or prove anything. Filing a complaint fulfilled their burden. The investigation benefitted from having audio and video of the event available to consider. It was enough to sustain a charge of improper conduct.

    If it also confirmed racial bias, this would have been a much worse, a much more serious, incident. I don’t understand your claim that “I’m not sure that this is more serious.” You just trying to bait me?

  35. wesley506

    If he was a fairly young officer with no deep ties to the community and a long career ahead of him with ambitious plans for promotions I would think he would want a spotless record. A adverse letter in his personnel file that says something to the effect of.. “[b][i]improper conduct.. officer used an aggressive tone and did not meet our highest standards for interacting with the public”[/i][/b] might be a problem when he comes up for a promotion.
    If he leaves the department for greener pastures before he gets served the letter and it makes it into his file, he maintains a clean record and the Chief can say problem solved, officer no longer in Davis.

  36. JustSaying

    wesley506, your more moderate speculation could be correct. Or, not. Unless the Vanguard or some other outfit contributes something factual to the discussion, we’ll be flailing in the air about the fate of his officer.

  37. David M. Greenwald

    Here’s the release from DPD:

    Davis Police Complete Internal
    Investigation on Bush/Wren Arrest

    In accordance with Davis Police Department policy, a review of the force used in the Bush/Wren arrest and an internal investigation into policy compliance was conducted. The Davis Police Department has audio recordings of the incident along with partial video recordings. All information and evidence available was analyzed by internal investigators to provide as complete a picture as possible of this incident and all the factors contributing to its development and outcome.

    On May 23, 2012, at approximately 10:00 PM, Davis Police Officers were dispatched to 2225 Glacier Drive in response to the report of a physical fight. The reporting party called 911 to report observing a male and female in an argument and then a physical confrontation. The reporting party gave specific clothing and physical descriptions of both the male and female involved. Jerome Wren and Tatiana Bush were arrested following the incident that occurred in Davis.

    Tatiana Bush subsequently filed a citizen complaint alleging officer misconduct. The complaint was thoroughly investigated and the Police Chief made specific findings regarding all allegations of misconduct. As required under California law, Ms. Bush was notified of the findings of the citizen complaint investigation. The internal investigation is privileged therefore; we are unable to release the specific details. However, the information Ms. Bush provided to the Davis Vanguard appears to be an accurate summation of the letter she received from Chief Landy Black.

    The Davis Police Department issued a press release on May 25, 2012, describing the incident that led to the arrest of Ms. Bush and Mr. Wren. There is no information in the original press release that needs to be corrected. The information contained in the original press release was primarily taken from an audio recording of the 911 call and audio recordings of the officers’ in-car camera equipment. The internal investigation did not uncover any evidence that contradicted the recordings or the account of the incident as described in the press release.

    The internal investigation focused primarily on the professional conduct of the responding police officers. While there was no evidence that bias or the race of any involved person played a part in the handling of this incident, based on a review of the entire incident, it became clear the interactions with Ms. Bush and Mr. Wren did not meet the highest expectations of professional conduct and service that are expected of members of the Davis Police Department.

    The Davis Police Department strives for displays of good manners and professionalism in all interactions with the public, and we are committed to providing the highest level of safety and security for everyone. Following any encounter such as this there are significant lessons to be learned. The Department will continue to make every effort to provide professional police services while serving the citizens of Davis. This incident was reviewed by the City’s Independent Police Auditor (Ombudsman).

  38. David M. Greenwald

    Rusty:

    I would caution you on quoting too much from the original press release from the city. While I quoted from it to demonstrate their side of the story, I cannot vouch for its accuracy at this point.

  39. David M. Greenwald

    “I’ll say it again. The attitude that her behavior was acceptable is the root of the problem. Ms. Bush should not be rewarded with our tax dollars for her boorish behavior.”

    First, Morpheus did you witness this incident?

    Second, she is not being rewarded, she may end up compensated by the city for her injuries if it was deemed that the police mishandled the scene.

  40. dlemongello

    This is a typical DISPROPORTIONATE response by police resulting an escalation of a problem.
    The video confirmed what is said so it is correct. Read it.
    Ms. Bush says “We were just standing in front of the Glacier Point office when police approached us and immediately started screaming at him to ‘come here, come here, come here.’ We were confused. As he walked toward the officer, the officer grabbed him and tried to detain him.”
    Mr. Wren apparently obeyed by walking toward the police and for that he was grabbed. How would most people respond when suddenly grabbed? It’s a shock, not likely to result in calm behavior.
    Later Mr. Wren is thrown onto the ground out of the patrol car, why would that be?
    And Ms. Bush experienced the classic smashing of her ahead and rough treatment AFTER they had Mr. Wren under control (and then some).

    Medwoman, I too think your toddler analogy is a bit off, but mostly AMEN as to your well put message.

  41. biddlin

    ” They were dealing with adults [u]that should know better than to resist the police…[/u] ” All findings and evidence to the contrary . Ms Bush’s account is confirmed . No one resisted, the police responded with uncalled for force.

  42. David M. Greenwald

    “What was the complaint that DPD “sustained” here? The story suggests Ms. Bush’s complaint of misconduct dealt with racism. “

    The story I wrote here says that the complaint of racial bias was both sustained and unfounded. What was upheld was the conduct of the officer was inappropriate and serious enough that two weeks before the letter was send out, he was no longer worked for the DPD.

  43. David M. Greenwald

    Biddlin: Thank you your point is well taken. The DA dropped the charges of resisting arrest. the police sustained the complaint. That suggests a very different outcome than Rusty and a few others are suggesting.

  44. David M. Greenwald

    “But, it seems as though the only part of her complaint that was sustained was that “the officer used an aggressive tone throughout and did not meet our highest standards for interacting with the public,” and that the more serious allegations of bias were specifically and pointedly NOT sustained by the investigation and findings. “

    I’m not sure that this is more serious.

    “I’m not sure that you’ve documented your suggestion that the officer’s conduct was “inappropriate and serious enough” to have caused his departure from the force. Did someone who knows that he was fired or asked to quit due to this investigation verify the causual relationship you’ve concluded? “

    You’re looking at a two week gap between the drafting of the letter and the officer no longer working at the department. Given the fact that the complaint was filed in late August, I’m willing to draw the conclusion there. If you think that’s not enough of a linkage, that’s certainly your prerogative.

  45. SouthofDavis

    David wrote:

    > I haven’t reconsidered my feelings about the
    > seriousness of police bias. I continue to believe
    > that two white people (they were not a couple)
    > would not have been subjected to that level of
    > force. But that’s an opinion and I accept that
    > they can’t prove it.

    How about a test, get a white female friend and scream at her on a downtown Davis street with cops in view. Then get a couple black friends and have the male scream at the female on a downtown Davis street with cops in view.

    If the cops give you a high five and say “tell that ho how you feel white brother” and treat the black guy like Rodney King I’ll admit I’m wrong about the police (but I hope you will admit that you are wrong if the police treat you and the black guy in a similar manner).

    I appreciate all the work you do on the blog and in court watching, (just like I appreciate the work my police friends do) it is important to remember that when your day is filled with stories of cops doing bad things to people of color that all cops are not bad (just like cops that have days of arresting people of color doing bad things need to work hard to remember that all people of color are not bad)…

  46. David M. Greenwald

    “How about a test, get a white female friend and scream at her on a downtown Davis street with cops in view.”

    Strangely we once contemplated doing something similar to that. But it’s hard to test it correctly.

    “I appreciate all the work you do on the blog and in court watching, (just like I appreciate the work my police friends do) it is important to remember that when your day is filled with stories of cops doing bad things to people of color that all cops are not bad (just like cops that have days of arresting people of color doing bad things need to work hard to remember that all people of color are not bad)… “

    There are a lot of police officers in this county who I know and believe are very good officers. It’s important to recognize that even good officers occasionally make mistakes. That bad officers repeatedly make mistakes.

    Good departments own up to their mistakes and I commend DPD for doing just that.

    People think I’m anti-police, what I have is little tolerance for excessive force and other misconduct from police or anyone other authority who works in the public trust.

  47. dlemongello

    Good one Alan. I want to just emphasize one point. It does not make it good, but lots of people make noise in this town, it does not warrant this level of response.

  48. Alan Miller

    Amazes me that people stick to their political bias in these discussions even after evidence presented in further investigations, including video evidence.

    Thank God for the few people in the world with courage like Tatiana Bush. For those not aware, watch the video of the of the students driving the UCD Police department force off the Quad to the chant of “You Can Go” immediately following the Pepper Spraying incident. That person mere feet from the raised pellet guns, leading the procession, inching toward the police, and protecting those behind her waiving her raised arms, is Tatiana Bush. She immediately gave a brilliant interview to Aggie TV and succinctly summarized the police and administrative failures, and served on the Reynoso Task Force.

    I do not agree with her statements implying racism. Nor do I agree with the comments earlier where someone was accused of being biased because they were a white person. Both may be true, but unless such allegations can be proven, they do more harm to equality than to deal with the events themselves. True that there are just a lot of assholes in the world, and some are racists. To be a ‘visible minority’ and never able to view the world other than inside the picture, and experience numerous racist attacks in life, it may be nearly impossible in many situations to distinguish an asshole from a racist, yet to play the racist card first without evidence does not help. The weird thing about being a Jew (an ‘in-visible minority’) is that anti-Semites usually don’t know if there is a Jew around when they spout their hate, while racists aren’t going to go and yell N-er in Watts. To the person who implied that the pepper-spray circle was all white, go back and look at the videos (and I know for fact ‘invisible minorities’ were present that day as well).

    Fresh off seeing police in the wrong, standing up to inappropriate police action, and being empowered to take down those in the wrong, I am not at all surprised that Tatiana Bush stood up to the responding officers when excessive response was employed directly against her and her friend. I am generally pro-police, and often tell people who are biased against police that police are individuals and human, to not resist them as a first line of defense, to show respect, work with them, even to comply. But I have no tolerance for use of excessive force or bad apples. I have seen the misuse of power and the escalation of confrontations by police provocation tactics meant to incite and then force used against those who resist. Thankfully we now have police car video cameras and iPhones; this has changed the world forever in favor of public protection against bad officers. As well, Tatiana Bush’s courage and resistance has contributed greatly to the rooting out of one bad police chief and three bad officers.

    The police really picked the wrong person to go off script with that night.

    And that goes to her point . . . if it wasn’t “me”, would there have been ‘justice’?

    And what’s with the commenter going on about the inappropriateness of people arguing or talking loudly in a residential neighborhood? Do you live in a gated community? If so, why not? Your protective bubble against reality is obviously not big enough for you. I agree it’s inappropriate . . . but . . .

    Inappropriate or not, disturbing the neighbors doesn’t warrant an appropriate concussion. There are nonviolent de-escalation techniques that require only training and patience. They don’t work in every situation, but they are or should be the first line technique. Good, well-trained officers use these techniques every day.

    Blindly defending police and/or ‘victims’ and or ‘minorities’ because that’s how you roll? Think again . . . or just think at all.

  49. jimt

    I read in the Davis Entetrprise that Mr. Wren exited the car on his own; and punched one of the officers in the face. If this indeed occurred, than tasering was certainly appropriate.

    Sounds like all accounts agree that Ms. Bush was physically and verbally interfering with the arrest. White or black or pink or purple; I think the police response for Ms. Bush would have been similar; I see no evidence of racism here. Sounds to me like Ms. Bush was rude and perhaps one or more of the police were a bit rude as well. Big deal. I personally don’t think a police officer should be pressured to leave the department because of this.

  50. David M. Greenwald

    jimt: You failed to note this qualification: “In a statement released two days after the incident…” Since then we have the DA’s office declining to file charges and the DPD sustaining the complaint, I don’t believe you can trust the statement from two days after the incident.

  51. JustSaying

    “jimt: You failed to note this qualification: “In a statement released two days after the incident…” Since then we have the DA’s office declining to file charges and the DPD sustaining the complaint, I don’t believe you can trust the statement from two days after the incident.”

    What did the DPD complaint investigation say about Mr. Wren’s actions that jimt notes? What charges would you think the DA’s office would file given that Ms. Bush claims she and Mr. Wren were just chatting and they see and hear on tape that Officer Benson unprofessional actions might have contributed to Mr. Wren’s response.

    With the “victim” swearing she wasn’t being attacked and one of the arresting officers out of line, the DA used his discretion appropriately and chose not to prosecute. Doesn’t mean nothing untoward happened.

    How can you use the DPD report to claim you cannot trust the original when the investigation specifically states:

    “There is no information in the original press release that needs to be corrected. The information contained in the original press release was primarily taken from an audio recording of the 911 call and audio recordings of the officers’ in-car camera equipment. The internal investigation did not uncover any evidence that contradicted the recordings or the account of the incident as described in the press release.”

    Neither the DA’s decisions nor the very contrary DPD findings provide support for your charge that the contemporary police report isn’t to be trusted. Not that I think that your belief isn’t sincere, just poorly founded.

  52. David M. Greenwald

    Just Saying, I think you are making the mistake of not only looking at one piece of evidence here.

    So if the video showed that Mr. Wren did as the original press release stated, he would have been charged by the DA at the very least with PC 69 if not assault on a police office. The fact that no charges were filed at the very least calls that into question – does it not?

    Second, for whatever reason you are calling Tatiana the victim here, but Tatiana was actually the aggressor, she pushed Wren off her.

    But if Wren hit an officer, all bets are off. Regardless of what happened before, he would be charged. The fact that he is not, should lead us to question that account.

    “How can you use the DPD report to claim you cannot trust the original when the investigation specifically states: “There is no information in the original press release that needs to be corrected.”

    That’s why the DA’s investigation, I think is important. The other possibility is that if the police used unlawful force, it is possible that Wren is actually lawfully permitted to use force in his own defense. The third possibility here is that the DA’s office saw a messy case and decided not to file. But that has not stopped them in the past in far messier cases.

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