Man gets $60K for wrongful arrest

Settlement reached over 2016 drug arrest after cop’s testimony was thrown out

SAN JOSE » Confronted one afternoon with a suspect who spoke only Spanish, San Jose police officer Joshua Bates found a fellow cop who could translate remotely, then put his phone on speaker and had the male officer calmly convince the man to let him search his van.

Or so he said.

Even when the public defender pressed him in court for details about the identity of the translator — ultimately asking if it was true the person was a woman named Lilia — he testified repeatedly that he didn’t remember.

It was only after he was given her full name that he admitted the truth: “Oh, that’s my wife.”

Caught lying on the stand and in his police report about his wife’s role and several other critical details regarding the encounter in late 2016, Bates recently resigned after three years on the force.

Saying he was “troubled” by the testimony, Superior Court Judge Eric Geffon threw out the drug case in October against former suspect Cosme Grijalva, after the prosecution dismissed the charges. The City Council on Tuesday agreed to settle a civilrights lawsuit filed by attorney Jaime Leaños on Gijalva’s behalf for $59,900.

In a memo recommending the settlement, City Attorney Rick Doyle gave scant details about the case, noting only that officers conducted a warrantless search of Grijalva’s van that led to the dismissal.

Body-camera video recorded by Bates’ partner, Ian Hawkley, who is also named in the suit, shows Bates telling his wife over the

“This is why there should be control over the body cameras by somebody other than the officers. If (Bates’) partner didn’t have body camera on, nobody would have believed Mr. Grijalva.” — Jaime Leaños, attorney

phone: “So what you’re going to do is you’re going to tell this person that I know there is methamphetamine in the car — crystal, and you are going to tell him that I’m going to get a dog who’s going to come over and is going to sniff and tear their car apart.”

Asked Tuesday whether Bates would face perjury charges, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said the police have not presented a case for prosecutors to review.

But Leaños thinks it would be fitting.

“It was undisputed that the officer was not honest

during his testimony,” he said. “Mr. Grijalva was very surprised when he discussed the police reports with the public defender, and saw what was in the reports and what he witnessed were two very different things.”

Police Chief Eddie Garcia said the department appreciates the gravity of the case.

“Those allegations are concerning,” Garcia said. “When allegations of distrust come up, we’ll deal with them.”

Bates initially did not activate his body camera. Department policy requires officers to turn on their cameras during enforcement actions, with few exceptions. Bates admitted under questioning by Public Defender Avi Singh he also

tried to get his partner to turn off his camera during the encounter.

Even though Hawkley told him, “Yeah, I’m red. I’ve been red for a while,” referring to the camera being activated, Bates appeared to have forgotten there was a record of the incident until Singh dug it up and confronted him in court.

Leaños said what happened in this case when it comes to body cameras is of grave importance.

“This is why there should be control over the body cameras by somebody other than the officers,” he said. “If (Bates’) partner didn’t have body camera on, nobody would have believed Mr. Grijalva.”

But Garcia said, “Activation of body-worn cameras

is something we treat very seriously. I have zero tolerance for non-activation during enforcement stops, and officers’ discretion is extremely limited.”

There is evidence suggesting this might not have been a one-time instance for Bates. According to court documents filed by Singh, the week before Bates’ encounter with Grijalva, he and another officer stopped and arrested a bicyclist on suspicion of alleged

marijuana possession. Body-worn camera footage showed that Bates omitted mentioning a pat-down search in his police report on the incident.

Other video from that case also shows Bates having a conversation with another officer about how to come up with probable cause to make an enforcement stop when there is nothing readily apparent.

Leaños said all of this should prompt an examination of police training, both in the academy and ongoing.

“It makes you wonder where did he learn this from, and why is he doing this,” he said. “The problem with officers engaging in this type of misconduct is it reflects poorly on all officers, including the good ones.”