Sonoma County sheriff gives notice of firing to deputy involved in arrest of Bloomfield man who died in custody
A Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy involved in a violent confrontation with an unarmed Bloomfield man who died after the deputy wrapped his arm around the man’s neck while trying to pull him from his vehicle has been told he will be fired, Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick announced Friday.
Essick made the announcement at the tail end of an almost 17-minute video released by his office Friday morning, which through body-worn camera footage from another deputy provided the first public view of the Nov. 27 in-custody death of David Ward, 52.
The video, which the Sheriff’s Office was required to release under a months-old state law, showed how Deputy Charles Blount first tried to pull Ward from car by his left arm and then bashed Ward’s head into the side of the vehicle after saying Ward bit him.
Blount, who was joined by ?other authorities during his struggle to get Ward out of the vehicle, then placed his arm around Ward’s neck in what police initially described as an attempted carotid hold, a controversial restraint scarcely used by deputies at the Sheriff’s Office. Blount kept the man in the neck hold for more than a minute.
“Stop moving,” he commanded.
A second deputy who would twice fire his Taser at Ward by the end of the incident, Jason Little, and two Sebastopol officers first sought to stop Ward early Nov. 27 after learning he was driving a green Honda Civic reportedly stolen by an armed man days prior. Deputies did not know Ward owned the car or that he had apparently recovered the vehicle earlier that morning, a fact revealed to Blount by a deputy who arrived to the scene after Blount’s struggle with Ward.
“Oh well,” Blount, a 19-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, responded to the deputy. While a search of the car later turned up a folding pocket knife near the front seat of the car, there was no indication Ward had used or threatened authorities with it, Essick said.
Once removed from his car by the officers, Ward was handcuffed facedown on the ground and later stopped breathing. The cause of Ward’s death has not been publicly disclosed.
“When they’re trying to extract Mr. Ward from the car, the force that is used on him doesn’t appear to be reasonable, and I’m specifically talking about Deputy Blount,” Essick said.
Essick said he decided to begin Blount’s termination process after two internal affairs investigators at the Sheriff’s Office dedicated hundreds of hours reviewing the in-custody death ahead of the video release. Though Essick said the investigation led to findings that Blount violated general rules for Sheriff’s Office employees - conduct that discredits the county, willful disregard of department policy and carelessness or violation of safety rules - he declined to specify whether investigators found Blount violated office policies during Ward’s arrest and, if so, how.
Their inquiry included a review of the agency’s policies on the use of force, dealing with people who are barricaded, conducting high-risk stops and using firearms, Essick said. He cited personnel records privacy laws for not disclosing more, though he said the contents of the internal review would be made public at a later date, as required by a different state law.
Internal affairs investigators had not completed all the necessary interviews by Wednesday, the reason the agency didn’t make the video public sooner, and Essick’s termination notice was sent to Blount a day later, Essick said. Both Essick and Jerry Threet, a Sonoma County attorney who previously worked as the county’s law enforcement auditor, described Essick’s decision to fire Blount as an unusual disciplinary measure within the law enforcement profession. Karlene Navarro, the current auditor, called the incident “upsetting and traumatic” in an email Friday, but did not elaborate on Blount’s conduct.
“This shows that I have set high standards for the Sheriff’s Office and our employees,” Essick said. “When they do not meet those high standards, I’m not afraid to call them out on it and take action, and I did.”
Blount, who The Press Democrat could not reach for comment, did not activate his body-worn camera during the incident, Essick said.
Attempts to reach the Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, the union that represents Blount and other deputies, were also unsuccessful.
The facts surrounding Ward’s death, paired with information about prior allegations of excessive force launched against Blount, two of which resulted in settlements, has led Ward’s family to seek legal representation from local civil rights attorney Izaak Schwaiger, said Catherine Aguilera, Ward’s stepsister.
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