SJPD officer pleads not guilty in kicking and dragging of woman caught on video.

SAN JOSE >> A San Jose police officer pleaded not guilty Oct. 29 to an assault charge stemming from a notorious traffic stop this past summer when he kicked then violently dragged a woman he decided was not sufficiently complying with his orders to get on the ground.

Matthew Rodriguez, 36, was charged last month with misdemeanor assault and battery under color of authority i n connection with the July 22 encounter in a McDonald’s parking lot on East Santa Clara Street. A conviction would carr y a ma ximum sentence of a year in jail but wouldn’t necessarily end his police career without further intervention from the Police Department.

Rodriguez was not required to appear in court bec ause of the misdemeanor classification of the charge, and attorney Julia Fox appeared via video teleconference and entered his not-guilty plea in his stead. After Fox waived her client’s speedy trial rights, Judge Vincent Chiarello set the next court date for Jan. 26.

The arraignment was mostly perfunctory except for a request by the injured woman’s attorney, Sarah Marinho, for a protective order to be issued against Rodriguez. Fox objected and said it was unnecessary on the premise it was unlikely for the officer and the woman to cross paths, but Marinho argued that the two had at least one previous interaction and had compelling concerns for her safety.

“He ow ns g uns and knows where she lives,” Marinho said, also via video teleconference. “(She) is afraid of him.”

Chiarello ultimately issued a temporary restraining order against Rodriguez valid for one year, “until the case is resolved.”

Marinho added that her client has a pending tort claim with the city over the alleged assault.

Rodriguez has been on administrative leave since shortly after the incident, which was in full view of bystanders, at least one of whom recorded it with his cellphone camera. A use-offorce investigation by SJPD and subsequent review by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office led to the criminal charge, which until recently was a rare result from officers’ line-ofduty conduct.

The minute-long eyewitness video — now backed up by officers’ body camera footage — shows the woman sitting outside a silver BMW as Rodriguez stands a few feet away. The officer darts toward the woman and kicks her in the stomach, sending her facedown onto the pavement, before handcuffing her. He drags her several feet by the wrists across the ground toward an unmarked police SUV.

The woman suffered contusions and lacerations to her face, stomach and legs.

An investigative report accompanying the criminal complaint states a police supervisor found inconsistencies between Rodriguez’s body camera footage and his initial statements that the 39-year-old woman was not complying. The report suggests a miscommunication when the driver thought she was obeying the officer’s “get on the ground” order by squatting, when Rodriguez wanted her to lie on the ground. He would later tell her, “Why you didn’t (expletive) listen?”

Rodriguez later told investigators that he thought the woman might be looking to run off, or possibly arm herself, according to the report. He also stated “he decided to drag her because it was quicker to move her from the area and the threat of the unknown occupants in the vehicle. He wanted to move as quick as possible, and standing her up at that location was not something he thought about.”

Police said they sought the BMW for a week after officers tried to pull it over for an expired registration July 18 and its driver fled. When officers tried to stop it July 21, it sped away again. Officers saw the car again the next day and conducted a traffic stop in the McDonald’s lot.

The injured woman initially was arrested on suspicion of three misdemeanors — resisting arrest, possessing drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended license — but prosecutors chose not to pursue those charges in light of the excessive-force allegations. With a circulation greater than

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