(How the Santa Monica City Attorney & the SFPD worked together to put this urban tree climber behind bars.)

In 2005 I received a letter from the Santa Monica Police Department identifying me as the subject in a misdemeanor case.    Back then, a man, full of road rage, had followed me into my own work place driveway.  Later he would somehow convince the SMPD and the Santa Monica City Attorney that I had attacked him.    I hired a lawyer.  In December 2005 after several court appearances and multiple thousands of dollars spent by me to a private attorney, the man's story became increasingly fanciful (among other spectacular lies he eventually told the prosecutor that I had followed him into my workplace parking lot) and the case was dismissed on condition that I would not be arrested in the coming year.   I was never arrested or fingerprinted. 

I can remember feeling a sense of relief way back in December 2006 knowing that one year had passed and so the whole mess was behind me.  Or so I thought...

Yesterday afternoon (Saturday Oct. 18 2008) at around 1:30 pm I was attending the Red Bull sponsored soap box race near Dolores Park in San Francisco.    A friend and I were enjoying the view that was offered by a nearby tree.  Eventually a police officer came by to request that all of the people that were in trees should get out.  There were 4 people in my tree, the next tree down the hill was accomodating a young family and the next tree up the hill was also full.  At first I politely questioned the officer, but as soon as the people bellow me had left the tree that I was in, I promptly exited.  Neither myself or my friend had consumed any alcohol that day.

When I got to the ground, to my surprise, I was immediately handcuffed and dragged to a nearby police van.  The friend that I was with and I were both handled in this manner.  No other tree dwellers were so treated.  Certainly not those that were in the same tree as me and directly below me, thus impeding my exit!   Without my permission, they took my wallet out of my pocket and removed my driver's license.   My friend had left his only ID (his passport) back at my house.  The two of us were stuffed into the van and taken to the nearby police station.  Upon arrival I was notified that there was a $75000 warrant out for my arrest.  Thankfully, it turned out to be a mere $7500. 

We were left handcuffed to a railing in the back of the police station while the cops tried to decide what to do with my friend who had no such warrant.   At one point they were going to charge him with public drunkenness (never mind that we were stone sober) and lock him up for four hours.     He pleaded with them for a Breathalyzer test.    They refused him the test but released him with no charge.  He had been "detained".    As he walked out I asked him to contact my wife Jodie to let her now what had happened.

Their plan for me was much more insidious.  I had a warrant for my arrest in Santa Monica, CA, a 6 hour drive from San Francisco.  I was to go to the county jail and spend the rest of the weekend.  Then I was to be transported to Santa Monica to stand before the court to talk about an issue that had been fully resolved nearly 3 years hence!

At the time I was not aware of this plan.  All I knew was that there was a $7500 warrant out for my arrest made by the City of Santa Monica.   I was told that I would be taken to the county jail, booked, and then released to appear in a Santa Monica court at a later date.
 
After my friend was let go I was booked.  I turned over all of my possessions including my belt and shoelaces.  I was directed into a nearby cell and locked inside by myself for about an hour.  I had nothing to read and no one to talk to.   At this point I had not been read my rights.  Nor had I been told the details of the warrant, only that it was issued out of Santa Monica CA and that the bail amount was $7500.  I knew that it had to be related to the battery alegations, but I couldn't figure out how or why there had come to be a warrant for my arrest.  Neither was I to get this information from my captors.

Eventually a prisoner transport cop showed up (Officer Amigo was his name).  He directed me to sit near an unsavory and, as I was soon to find out, borderline psychotic individual (Andre Maxamillion I believe was his name).  He then handcuffed me to this person, my left hand to his left hand (which as you can imagine made things rather awkward).  We were then brought into the parking lot and directed into the back of yet another police van.  As we were entering the Van, Andre started to turn ugly on Officer Amigo.    He threatened that he was going to kill Officer Amigo by putting a bullet in his head.  

The two of them traded threats and insults for the first part of the ride.  Then Officer Amigo turned up the radio very loudly attempting to ignore Andre.  Andre persisted over the noise of the radio.  Then Officer Amigo began driving erraticcally, breaking heavily and accellerating abrubtly and even at one point swerving from side to side in order to punish Andre for his words.  Clearly, Officer Amigo did not consider my situation while taking these actions.   I spent most of this time thinking about how I was going to defend myself from Andre should he turn evil on me like he had on Officer Amigo.  (Andre was aware that my father is a retired police officer because I had foolishly blurted this out at the police station in an attempt to connect in some way with the officers handling me.)

We arrived at the County Jail on Bryant Street.  We drove around back and Officer Amigo directed Andre and I out of the van and onto a row of arranged chairs.   Each chair had the word "INMATE" in large block letters across the upper back of the seat.  I thought that was a nice touch.  We sat there for a few minutes.  I tried to make small talk with Officer Amigo.  We talked about the weather and when it might start raining.  I remarked that it was a plentiful rain two winters ago.  He agreed. 

The door to the jail opened.  Officer Amigo removed the handcuffs adjoining myself to Andre.   Needless to say, I was relieved.  We entered the jail and were directed to a nearby holding cell.  Officer Amigo called on Andre to get booked into jail first.  Andre delayed and so I was called up.  I gave my name, date of birth,and social security number.  I was then photographed and a print of my right pointer finger was taken in duplicate. 

I was then entered into a cell with a partially concious fellow lying on one of the cell's two short benches.  I nodded and said, "Hello."  He acknowledged this with what I considered to be a polite grunt.  The room was tiny and the door was locked.   Several minutes passed and then I was directed down the hall to be fitted with an orange jail uniform.  I was ordered to remove all of my clothes and they were taken away from me.  They had me raise my arms, show the soles of my feet, lift my testacles and spread my buttocks apart while bent at the waist.   I was thankful that there was no cavity search performed.  I was then given a full set of orange clothes (they felt oddly comfortable), and a bag lunch, and sent to a largish holding cell with some 15 to 20 similarly clothed men.

During this time I was pleading with the prison guards to let me pay bail.  I had several credit cards in my wallet each with more than $7500 of available credit.  I told them that I could arrange for a check to be brought.    I was told that I would be released Monday morning at the earliest.  It was mid afternoon on Saturday.

By this time my friend that had been merely "detained" had already contacted my wife Jodie and informed her of what he knew of the situation.  She had called the San Francisco Police Department and then the county jail.  The person that answered the phone at the county jail assured her that i would be let out of jail and would be home before midnight.  Jodie was told to, "sit tight and not worry."

Back at the jail and upon entering the holding cell I noticed that there was a phone on the wall.  I promptly used it to call Jodie at home.    I told Jodie what the prison guard had told me about being held until Monday morning at the earliest.  I requested that she come to the jail and pay the bail amount.    She agreed.

The holding cell contained a mixture of unconcious, semiconscious, silent, and thankfully some talkative individuals.   The conversation was quite pleasant.   Some of us shared our story with the others, some chose to keep their story to themselves.  I was generally impressed with the quality of the individuals, although I regrettfully forget their names.  When questioned by the other inmates, one of the men, who was a cab driver, claimed to have been attacked by one of his customer.    He had a heavily swollen right eye.  He admitted that he had defended himself with a tire iron.  I suppose that his customer faired much worse than he did.  Another man told us of a crime that he commited long ago in which he had stabbed a man over some triviality.  He attempted to flea, but had somehow forgotten to throw away the knife.  Another man who had been caught stealing a cup of coffee.   Another was busted smoking a "Blunt".

There were two nurses that were very attentive to the prisoners needs.  One of the inmates was an alcoholic (the same one that had told a story about how he had stabbed a man) and claimed to need some drug to calm his nerves.  It was brought to him.  Another man claimed to be diabetic.  He was taken away to have his blood sugar level checked.   I found the nurses to be both caring and professional. 

After quite some time a female prison guard came to the door and requested that I come forward.  I was informed that my wife and son had arrived with bail and that I was to be released.  The guard made a point to scold me for having my son at the county jail.  At the time I was greatful for the friendly banter.  Now (28 odd hours later) I feel decidedly less so.

I was brought to a small holding cell and directed inside.  There was another inmate there.  His name was Rodney Williams.  He seemed a decent fellow although quite sleepy.  He was not yet dressed in a prisoners uniform and he was to be let go on a citation (this was what the police officers back at the station had claimed would be my fate).    Rodney was there for some long forgotten traffic violation which had turned into a warrant for his arrest. 

At about 6:30 pm Rodney and I were fully fingerprinted and photographed by a man by the name of JC.  JC speculated that the reason for the recent influx of prisoners was  the hiring of many new "rookie" cops by the police department.  He felt that they were overly aggressive with arrests.  I didn't disagree.  Once the fingerprinting and photographing was done, we were to wait about half an hour while JC "cleared" us.  He was to make sure that we had no other warrants in addition to those that had been identified.    This is the same process that the cops on the street were able to perform in a matter of seconds.    It was not until 8 pm, after nearly 7 hours of dentention was I to be released into the loving arms of my wife and son.    Jodie has paid a $7500 bail and I am to appear in court on November 18th in Santa Monica.

This was a terrifying experience for myself and my wife.  As I write this it is 12:15 AM Monday October 20th.    Throughtout the day I have been feeling strong emotions of anger, shame, and disbelief, but most of all I am happy to be safe and at home with my loved ones.

Immediately after getting home from jail I placed a call to the lawyer that had represented me back in 2005 in the assualt case that I thought was water under the bridge.  I left a message, he called back.  He said that I should go back to the police station at which I was arrested and try to get as much information as possible including what the warrant was for and the case #.  When I arrived at the police station on Sunday afternoon to ask about the details of the warrant I was at first laughed at by a small gaggle of 'rookie' police officers.  I strongly stated that it was no laughing matter and that I required for them to provide me with the details of the warrant.  Their behavior was unprofessional and their maturity level much lower than what I would expect from a Police Officer.

They got out the big penal code book and read the descriptions of the laws that were broken.  These were the exact same laws that I originally went to court for back in 2005 and for which it was resolved in December 2005 that if I were not to be arrested in the coming year that the whole thing would be forgotten. 

I have yet to find out when or for what exact reason this warrant was placed.   However, I am pretty certain it invloves a major foul up by the city of santa monica and/or the attorney that represented me against those misdemenar battery accusations that I thought had been completely resolved back in December 2006 when my one year of not getting arrested had passed by!


UPDATE (Tuesday Oct 21, 4:40 pm)

I just got off the phone with the Santa Monica City Attorney's office.  I spoke to a clerk there who let me know that the warrant was a "BENCH" warrant issued because I failed to appear to court in December 2006.   I called my lawyer (with whom I am losing confidence fast) and he said that it must have been a clerical error.   I was not required to return to court at that time (and nor did anyone ask me to).  It was only a placeholder for the one year of "probation" in which I was not to be arrested for anything else and in which time I was NOT in fact arrested for anything else.

Now however, I have been arrested.  I have been handcuffed to a psychopath.  I have been sent to jail, stripped searched, and locked up for several hours and I have paid a $7500 bail.  All of this because of a "clerical error."   Nevermind the trauma that my wife and son have experienced.

UPDATE (Thursday Oct 23, 4:20 pm)

My lawyer was able to contact the Santa Monica City Attorney's office.  They have confirmed that it was in fact a "Clerical Error."  I believe the word that they used to describe the bench warrant was, "inadvertent."  Apparently, the City Attorney wasn't present the day that my case came up and so a bench warrant was issued for my arrest.  Go figure!?  My lawyer (with whom I am regaining confidence) has made an appointment to meet with the Santa Monica City Attorney (Patrick Burke) and the currently serving Judge (apparently they rotate) on this coming Tuesday.  I am flying down.  I don't want to miss this.  My lawyer is confident that the warrant and the original charges will be resolved at that time. 

My next goal is to have last weekends arrest expunged from my record and to file a grievance with the Santa Monica City Attorney.    Then I will have to decide if I want to go through with the trouble of a civil suit against the City Attorney for his negligence.


UPDATE (Wednesday Oct 29, 2:15 pm)

I went to court yesterday in Los Angeles (near LAX).  The City Attorney/prosecutor was there.  It was a courtroom setting with many other lawyers and defendants milling around.  My Lawyer told the prosecutor what had happened.  He seemed surprised, but in no way apologetic.  He said that he would place a call to clear my name (the call that he should have placed back in December 2006).  A few minutes later the judge called my name and I went up to stand at the front.  My lawyer briefly explained the situation to the judge.  The judge cut him off saying that he had already, "read the details in the court papers."   After a few minutes of my lawyer struggling to attract the prosecutors attention from another discussion that he was having, the prosecutor finally reported that my name was in fact clear.  The Judge then announced that the bench warrant was to be "revoked" and "quashed" and that the case was "dismissed".     It seems like the original criminal case is now put to rest.  My lawyer graciously declined further compensation. 

I have no idea if this means that the arrest that happened in San Francisco would be expunged.  I will have to follow up to find out.  As for the $7500, I will have to wait 10 business days and then return with Jodie to the jail house.  Then they will take about a month or so to send us the money in the mail.  (At 0%, it will probably outperform any other investment that I have made in that time period.)

I intend to file complaints with the City of Santa Monica and the San Francisco Police Department.  I will likely hire a new lawyer in order to be sure that those things are properly taken care of.  The possibility of civil action against the City of Santa Monica remains.


UPDATE (Wednesday Nov 5, 1:20 AM)

I've done a little research and it looks like my next course of action will be to file a petition with the SFPD to have my arrest record "sealed".  If they deny the petition then I have to schedule a court date in Los Angeles in order to have that court order the SFPD to "seal" the arrest record.    That could cost me as $1500 or more if it requires the court appearance.    I'm currently looking for a lawyer to file the petition paperwork.

UPDATE (Tuesday August 11)