Report: Todd Chretien
Todd Chretien recounts how one
California police officer's thirst for brutality has crashed into the life of
yet another innocent member of the public.
April 3, 2017
Killer cop Miguel Masso
photographed by activists in downtown Oakland (Occupy Oakland)
ON JANUARY 28, 2017, Hollister
Police Department officer Miguel Masso stopped Earl Malanado as he was driving
home from a friend's house in this central California town. Masso claimed that
Malanado's license plates didn't match his car's description, although he
subsequently retracted the accusation.
Masso then issued Malanado
citations for an out-of-date registration and for not having a paper copy of his
proof of insurance in the car. When Malanado protested against the false reason
given for the initial stop and stated that he had a First Amendment right to
speak up for himself, Masso became agitated and announced that he was placing
Malanado under arrest--supposedly for "interfering with a police
investigation." He ordered Malanado to exit the vehicle.
In an interview with Socialist
Worker, Malanado describes what happens next.
I didn't even get a chance to
get out of my car and stand up. Masso grabbed my right hand in a submission
hold, you know, like cops do, and knocked my phone, which was still recording,
out of my hand. He really sent it flying. His attack was immediate and vicious,
like a Ninja. I went to the ground like a rag doll.
Malanado didn't know yet, but
he wasn't Masso's first victim.
On May 6, 2012, Masso shot and
killed 18-year-old African American high school student Alan Blueford in East
Oakland after racially profiling him and two friends. Masso later claimed that
he had Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome from his time in Iraq and had "gone
into autopilot" as he pursued Blueford.
Masso initially claimed that
Blueford had shot him, but it was quickly learned that Masso shot himself in
the foot in addition to fatally shooting Blueford.
Masso had a history even
before the Blueford murder.
In 2007, Rafael Santiago filed
a lawsuit against Masso and three other New York City Police officers for beating
and repeatedly using a Taser on him while in custody. After the case was
settled, Masso resigned from the NYPD and took a job as an officer in Oakland.
After Masso killed their son,
Alan Blueford's parents Jeralynn and Adam spearheaded a high-profile activist
movement organized under the name JAB--Justice for Alan Blueford. For months,
community members and anti-police brutality activists occupied
City Council meetings and brought business as usual to a halt.
The case made headlines in
Oakland for more than two years. Although the Alameda County district attorney
refused to press charges against Masso, the city of Oakland subsequently paid a
settlement in a civil lawsuit filed by the Blueford family.
As was the case in New York,
Masso resigned under pressure--only to be hired by a new department in August
2014, this time in Hollister, just 80 miles south of Oakland.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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IF THE Hollister Police
Department was aware of Masso's history of abuse, Malanado was not. Masso
dragged the 50-year-old man from his car on January 28, and things quickly
escalated out of control, Malanado:
Masso pinned my hands behind
my back and threw me to the ground. While I was falling, he pulled my jacket up
over my head so it was covering my face. I have COPD, which means I have
trouble breathing. So he had my hands pinned behind me, with his left knee on
the back of my kneesm and his right knee on my right arm, pushing my face into
the ground, with my jacket covering my mouth and nose.
I kept yelling, "I can't
breathe, my medication is in my jacket. I can't breathe." I started to
panic and just kept screaming, "I can't breathe."
Luckily for Malanado, another
Hollister officer arrived on the scene and took him into custody. "All I
could think was that I wanted to get into the sheriff's custody and away from
Masso," said Malanado. "When the second cop put me in his patrol car
I told him I thought Masso was crazy."
Malanado was then taken to
jail and processed by the sheriff's department. At no point along the way was
he read his Miranda rights, and neither the Hollister Police nor the sheriff's
departments took Malanado to the hospital for medical treatment.
Upon being released into his
family's custody after midnight, Malanado returned home briefly and then went
to the hospital. While at the hospital, a Hollister police officer entered
Malanado's room and questioned him about the encounter with Masso.
"He just kept smirking
and implying that everything was my fault," explained Malanado. Although
no longer under arrest, the officer refused to leave Malanado alone. Hospital
medical and security personnel eventually had to insist the officer exit the
room.
Nearly two months later,
Malanado is still feeling the effects of the assault.
My injuries are mostly
bruises, on my knees and especially my right elbow. There were cuts on my
wrist, and I had an x-ray of my elbow to see if there was a fracture. Now I
have pains in my knee. I have a lot of trouble sleeping too. Not so much
because of the physical pain, but because of the mental anguish. It's all I can
think about so I can't sleep. I keep wondering, "What did I do? Why me?
Why do I deserve this?"
Soon after Malanado's ordeal,
a family member Googled Masso's name and learned about the Blueford case.
Malanado quickly reached out to Alan Blueford's parents to find out what had
happened in Oakland. He became convinced that he had to speak out:
I thought, "That's strike
three." Of course, what he did to Alan was much worse than what he did to
me, but somebody has to put a stop to this. I know some people are scared or
don't have the means to speak out. But it's just not right.
I'm not out to ruin the guy's
life, but he can't be in a position to have power over people. There's clearly
a pattern here. I don't believe he's in police work to try to help people.
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