Family of teen sues, alleges brutal attack by Stockton officers
The family of a Stockton teenager who was allegedly beaten by four police officers has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, saying a violent assault left the 17yearold with a broken nose and boot marks on his face.
Devin Carter was driving a MercedesBenz along Davis Road at 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 30 when police pulled him over for allegedly speeding erratically at more than 100 mph, they said. Police accused the teen of initially failing to yield and said that he passed two motorists on the right, one of whom swerved and collided with a police cruiser.
After three minutes, Carter lost control of his car while maneuvering a turn, police said in their description of the incident, and officers used an “intervention technique” to stop him just north of Davis and Eight Mile roads.
The lawsuit filed by Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris describes the encounter differently, saying Carter stopped while a police car was still pursuing him in the distance. It crashed into the Mercedes.
An officer then opened Carter’s driverside door, where the teen was waiting with his hands above the steering wheel as police yelled commands. The officer pulled Carter out of the car and slammed him to the ground, where he lay screaming in a fetal position while several officers punched, kicked and kneed him, the court complaint says.
Burris also published bodyworn camera footage from the department, which shows a chaotic altercation in which
the officers hurl profanity and repeatedly order Carter to “stop resisting,” even as he insists he is obeying directions.
The complaint names four officers as codefendants, in addition to the city: Michael Stiles, Daniel Velarde, Vincent Magana and Omar Villapudua. The department placed all four on administrative leave after the incident, beginning an internal affairs investigation that wrapped up last week, according to Police Chief Eric Jones.
Jones announced the results on March 30: Two of the officers, Stiles and Villapudua, had been fired for using force “outside the scope of both our policy and training.” He declined to say whether the other two had returned to work.
The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office is also reviewing the case, but has not filed criminal charges against the officers so far.
“Our department has policies that state we should make attempts to avoid striking an arrestee around the head and neck area when possible,” Jones said in a public statement. “Given this set of circumstances, I cannot and will not condone any excessive force. Additionally, any use of profanity is considered unwarranted and not professional.”
Jones added that several officers involved in the incident had “received discipline” — including the two terminations — which Burris, Carter’s family and many supporters deemed insufficient.
“Now the truth is out,” Carter’s father, George Carter, said during a news conference and rally on the steps of Stockton City Hall on Saturday. His son stood beside the podium, eyes cast downward, hands in his pockets, occasionally nodding.
Burris said the beating was the most outrageous he had seen since his former client Rodney King was assaulted by Los Angeles police officers 30 years ago — an incident documented by a bystander on a camcorder, presaging modern viral videos of police violence.
Carter told reporters that his body went numb when he watched the video, “like it did when I was getting beaten.”
He said that, in that moment, curled on the ground, he thought about George Floyd, who died after a former Minneapolis police officer pinned him down for more than nine minutes. Officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial began last week.
Carter worried he would be another George Floyd.
“I thought I was going to die,” he said.