Palo Alto police face federal lawsuit
Agent named in two prior cases alleging excessive force
PALO ALTO >> A Palo Alto man has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city’s Police Department alleging that an officer violently slammed him to the ground outside a doughnut shop last summer, then denied him medical care and lied about the incident.
The lawsuit, filed by plaintiff Julio Arevalo on Wednesday, claims that Agent Thomas DeStefano assaulted and unlawfully arrested him in a parking lot July 10, breaking a bone in his face and giving him a concussion.
DeStefano has been named in two previous suits alleging excessive force, including a case leading to the largest settlement in recent city history. The suit alleges he is one of many officers upholding a broader culture of abuse within the department, and it names Police Chief Robert Jonsen as a defendant, among other Palo Alto officers. A police spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation.
“The culture and pattern and practice of the agency is not taking serious law violations by their officers seriously, and in fact encouraging and enabling that process,” said Cody Salfen, Arevalo’s lawyer.
The incident unfolded early July 10 outside of Happy Donuts on El Camino Real. According to surveillance footage released by Salfen and reviewed by this news organization, Arevalo left the 24-hour shop with a doughnut in tow before DeStefano approached him in the parking lot.
As Arevalo walked back toward the entrance of the shop, DeStefano shoved him against a metal railing several times and threw him facedown onto the ground. Arevalo briefly lost consciousness, the suit says; in the surveillance footage, his feet flailed while DeStefano knelt on top of him.
In the minutes that followed, more officers arrived and Arevalo was led and handcuffed, out of the frame. Officers took him straight to the police station and denied him medical care until hours later, according to the suit, which says he suffered a broken facial bone, a concussion and
a laceration to his chest.
The suit says DeStefano claimed in a police report that he had seen Arevalo complete a “hand to hand” drug transaction with a man in the parking lot. Video footage showed Arevalo talking to a woman and two men outside the shop before DeStefano approached him, but they did not touch. Another man also paced in the parking lot; he and Arevalo did not interact within the frame of the video.
Officers arrested Arevalo on suspicion of violating probation and resisting arrest, but the Santa Clara County district attorney did not charge him. The suit claims that DeStefano detained Arevalo before even knowing Arevalo was on probation, only checking his status with dispatch later in his police car.
A subsequent internal Palo Alto police investigation determined that DeStefano had acted reasonably, according to the suit, and rejected Arevalo’s initial November 2019 claim of excessive force. Salfen maintains that the investigation was flawed from the start in part because one of the officers in charge is a close friend of DeStefano’s and was a groomsman in his wedding.
“The public has entrusted Palo Alto to basically police themselves thus far, and we’ve seen time and time again that’s not working — we see these incidents happening over and over,” Salfen said.
Back in February 2018, resident Gustavo Alvarez alleged in another federal lawsuit that several officers — DeStefano among them — kicked down his door, dragged him outside and smashed his head into a car windshield because he was gay, mocking his sexual orientation during and afterward.
Officer Christopher Conde said he suspected Alvarez of driving without a license but admitted in court proceedings that he couldn’t be certain he had seen Alvarez behind the wheel before following him home. Although the city and department disputed the suit’s claims, they ultimately settled for $572,500 to avoid legal fees.
DeStefano also was named in a 2014 lawsuit as one of several officers who broke the arm of a Los Altos man during a traffic stop and unlawfully arrested him, a claim which later was settled for about $250,000.
Arevalo seeks $10 million in damages. His previous criminal record includes a harassment conviction and charges related to misdemeanor domestic violence battery in 2017.