Sonoma County Sheriff and Press Democrat editor on video release in traffic stop of motorist in $1.3 million settlement

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday released 40 minutes of body-worn camera footage of a Feb. 9 traffic stop with a motorist who five weeks earlier secured a $1.3 million settlement in a 2021 excessive force lawsuit.

The motorist, Jason Anglero-Wyrick, was driving out of town in a car, followed by his wife in a Penske moving van, when he was pulled over.

Anglero-Wyrick told The Press Democrat in a story published Wednesday that the 56-minute traffic stop “was the biggest setup and ambush of my life,” and that he feared it would end in his death.

Sheriff’s Office officials said the stop was a coincidence, that the deputy who pulled Anglero-Wyrick over for an unsafe lane change did not know he was the driver, and that he escalated the situation by acting aggressively with deputies.

Sheriff Eddie Engram’s office, after repeatedly declining earlier this week to release body-worn camera footage of the traffic stop, did so on its Facebook page Thursday.

Engram introduced the footage with a 2½-minute video statement. Here is his statement in full:

“Hello, I’m Sheriff Eddie Engram and I’m here today to discuss a false narrative circulating about how deputies treated a Black man on a recent traffic stop.

A local news story alleges the driver, Mr. Jason Anglero-Wyrick, was harassed by the Sheriff’s Office and implies deputies are retaliating because of a lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office that was settled last December. To be clear, our deputies did nothing wrong on this traffic stop.

The deputy who was out of service at the time saw a car driving so recklessly that he decided to pull him over without knowledge of who the driver was. Once the car stopped, the driver immediately got out of the car and confronted the deputy. To make matters worse, a woman driving a box truck pulled over, got out of the truck and also confronted the deputy. They were so aggressive the deputy quickly called for backup and waited until they arrived before proceeding with the traffic stop. In the end, Mr. Anglero-Wyrick apologized for his actions and calmly accepted his citation for driving on a suspended license and the traffic violation.

I pledge to hold my deputies accountable when they do something wrong. I will also protect them against false allegations and misconduct. These allegations of harassment and retaliation are patently false.

Given the gravity of these claims we are making an exception to our procedures and releasing the body-worn camera footage of the traffic stop. The footage begins a few moments after the deputy pulls over Mr. Anglero-Wyrick. Our deputy remains composed, speaks slowly and creates distance to deescalate the situation while he’s trying to identify the driver and wait for backup. Responding deputies have similarly calm behavior throughout the incident.

We welcome the press to ask questions and investigate our actions. We just ask that they take on these investigations with an open mind, a heart for the truth and an ear to hear both sides of the story. We even offered the news agency an opportunity to view the body worn footage so that they could have important context to the conflicting information they were receiving from multiple sources. Unfortunately they declined. The result is a biased article that perpetuates a narrative that deputies mistreat people of color. This narrative harms our community and discourage people of color to trust deputies and it tarnishes the good work the people of the Sheriff’s Office do every day. Our community and our employees deserve better. Thank you.“

Engram in his video statement referenced an offer made by the Sheriff’s Office to The Press Democrat this week to view the body-worn camera footage off the record, though the sheriff did not mention those ground rules in his comments Thursday.

The ground rules meant that The Press Democrat could not have referenced the video nor described its contents in its reporting on the traffic stop.

The Press Democrat declined the offer and reiterated its request to the sheriff to release the full record of the stop and provide all related body cam footage and police dispatch communication.

The Press Democrat welcomed Engram’s decision to release the body-worn camera video, said Executive Editor Richard Green.

“We first asked his department to release it on Monday after these allegations surfaced,” Green said. “The public deserved to make its own decision about what happened.

“Instead, in a 17-minute phone conversation Wednesday with two Press Democrat editors and a reporter, the department’s public information officer offered to show us the video exclusively on an off-the-record basis. We were told we could not describe it, write about it or have it included in our reporting of the story. We rejected the offer. We said the video should be made available to everyone – not just to our journalists. That’s exactly what happened Thursday.”

Green added, “It’s important to point out these facts that Sheriff Engram omitted in his video. To paint our coverage as biased and perpetuating a narrative that deputies should not be trusted by people of color is not only inaccurate, but offensive. I have tremendous respect for all public employees, including those in law enforcement. But our obligation to the community is to report all facets of how deputies and others do their job and to fairly and responsibly investigate allegations of questionable policing. We did that in this instance and will continue to do so in the future.”