Lawyer for Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy says man’s actions led to his death in custody

An attorney for the Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy who has been told he will be fired for his conduct leading up to a motorist’s death says the man who died is responsible for his own demise.

David Ward, the 52-year-old Bloomfield man who died during a traffic stop last month, engaged in several “bizarre actions” that prompted his death after Deputy Charles Blount placed him in a neck hold, said Harry Stern, a San Francisco lawyer representing Blount.

Ward led authorities on a chase and then refused their orders to open his car door, which “confirmed in the officers’ minds” they were dealing with an armed carjacking suspect, Stern said in an interview Saturday. While in the car, Ward raised and lowered his hands, prompting officers to wonder “whether he had a gun,” the lawyer said.

Ward was pulled over by officers on Nov. 27 driving his own car, a 2003 Honda Civic he had reported stolen by an armed carjacker. Ward had not reported his subsequent recovery of the vehicle.

Notifying authorities of that development “absolutely would have avoided the whole situation,” said Stern, who specializes in representing law officers.

Asked if Blount feared for his safety in the encounter with Ward, Stern said the officers believed they were dealing with a violent felon and were “in the process of exhausting their other use of force options.”

Izaak Schwaiger, the attorney representing Ward’s family, disputed Stern’s assertions.

“The narrative that David Ward killed himself is offensive to common decency,” he said. “If not for Deputy Blount’s actions, David Ward would still be alive. Legally, that means he is responsible for his death.”

“No one’s saying what David did was right,” Schwaiger said, but police often “deal with people making bad decisions. That’s their bread and butter.”

Schwaiger said he will soon file on the Ward family’s behalf a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging excessive force by Blount and claiming Ward’s mother has suffered “loss of familial association” in her son’s death.

Ward’s family has said he almost died when he was knocked off his motorcycle by a drunken driver several years ago, had trouble walking and suffered from a lung disease and a ?heart condition.

Stern said he had learned “through sources” that Ward had methamphetamine in his system, but declined to reveal the sources. The cause of Ward’s death and other details from his autopsy have not been made public.

Stern faulted Sheriff Mark Essick’s decision to hold Blount accountable and serve him with notice of termination on Thursday, a day after internal affairs investigators had completed their interviews.

Essick announced his decision Friday at the end of a nearly 17-minute video, which gave the public its first view of Ward’s death through body camera footage from another deputy at the scene. Blount did not activate his body-worn camera during the incident.

That sequence of events, Stern said, made clear Essick had reached a “foregone conclusion” to fire the deputy rather than reviewing “the facts of the incident dispassionately.”

In 25 years of representing law officers, Stern said he had “never seen the head of a police agency so myopically focused on trying to make himself look good.”

Essick on Saturday declined to comment on any of Stern’s allegations.

“I’m not going to engage in a debate with Mr. Stern in the media,” the sheriff said. “I’m confident in my decision. I’m confident in our investigation.”

Schwaiger endorsed the sheriff’s decision to fire Blount.

“Mark did the right thing, hands down,” he said. “It was the only moral action he could have taken.”

Schwaiger, who was involved in several prior cases involving Blount and allegations of excessive force, described Blount as a “violent man” whose firing has “been a long time coming.”

Court records describe four cases in which Blount used neck holds to control people, and in one case - involving a woman he tried to stop from jaywalking on a Santa Rosa street - video from a witness contradicted Blount’s testimony.

Stern said Blount had served the people of Sonoma County for more than 20 years, with no previous discipline, and previously served in the military for 20 years.

The notice of termination was improper, the lawyer said, because it was not accompanied by any supporting evidence, including the video.

Referring to the video, Schwaiger said, “What happened out there is not too far from murder. It’s on film.”

In an email, Stern said Blount’s actions were “entirely reasonable under the circumstances known” and videos of police uses of force, “even when justified, are often upsetting and graphic.”

Blount, who is on paid leave, filed an appeal of the proposed firing Friday that ultimately will lead to a hearing, Stern said.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com