| 
Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez released a statement Wednesday saying that the patrol car videotape showed the involved officer followed standard procedure in last week’s traffic stop that witnesses say turned into a case of “excessive force.”
“Based on what the video recording shows, witness accounts of the incident, and after reviewing the corresponding police report, there is no apparent violation of department policy or law enforcement procedure that would warrant a formal administrative investigation of the incident,” Sanchez said.
He also said, however, that he was unable to see what transpired for one minute of the video because the struggle was out of camera range.
The statement was Sanchez’s his first public comment on the hotly debated issue since Noozhawk broke the story Saturday.
At 9:40 p.m. Friday, Tony Denunzio, 50, of Santa Barbara, was pulled over by Officer Aaron Tudor in the parking lot of Gelson’s Market, 3305 State St.
In his incident report, Tudor said he observed the truck traveling northbound on Las Positas Road, changing lanes several times without signaling, which is a vehicle-code violation. Suspecting the motorist was driving under the influence, the four-year SBPD veteran flipped on his lights as the truck turned into Loreto Plaza.
Denunzio parked and got out, but Tudor ordered him to get back in the vehicle. According to Tudor, Denunzio did not comply so he moved to subdue him. He says Denunzio was resisting arrest and that he struck and Tasered him multiple times as he was attempting to handcuff him.
“The video clearly shows that Mr. Denunzio, upon being told to get back into his vehicle, looked back, did not comply with Officer Tudor’s verbal commands, and in fact began to walk away from the officer,” Sanchez said.
One witness described Denunzio as “possibly intoxicated” — speculation shared by other bystanders Noozhawk interviewed — but the witnesses assert that he was not resisting arrest and that Tudor repeatedly punched and Tasered him. They say Tudor was yelling at Denunzio to stop resisting arrest while Denunzio hollered back that he was not resisting. The witnesses say Denunzio kept asking Tudor why he was hitting him.
As Denunzio cried out for help and attempted to wiggle away from the Taser jolts, the witnesses began shouting at Tudor to stop striking and Tasering him. One witness, who described Tudor’s actions as “excessive force,” used her cell phone to call 9-1-1 and was told that police backup was on its way.
“The video shows the officer using a variety of options, including palm and knee strikes and multiple Taser applications to get Mr. Denunzio to comply with instructions,” Sanchez said.
He said the struggle was so strenuous that the pair moved outside the view of the camera for more than a minute.
“I was unable to see what transpired in that time frame,” Sanchez said, adding that three officers were required to take custody of Denunzio.
According to Duarte, Tudor is assigned to the police force’s drinking-driver team, which is charged with detecting impaired drivers and assisting other patrol officers with DUI investigations; as a result, he does not have a specific area of the city to cover. Tudor joined SBPD in 2007, a year after graduating with a communications studies degree from Westmont College. At Westmont, the Mission Viejo native was a 6-foot-2 point guard on the basketball team.
Denunzio, a Santa Barbara contractor, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, violating DUI probation, resisting an officer and driving with a suspended license, which police said was the result of a previous DUI conviction.
“Mr. Denunzio’s choice to drink and drive, in violation of his probation terms was a very bad decision,” Sanchez said. “He compounded the situation when upon being stopped and told to stay in his vehicle he failed to comply with direction from officers and resisted arrest.”
Sanchez said DUI enforcement can be dangerous for officers.
“The use of force is never desirable. It is difficult for members of the public to witness, particularly someone not familiar with police arrest/use of force training,” he said. “To an outside observer, the use of this type of force may seem excessive. However, with the possibility of a fleeing suspect being armed, and officer safety at stake when making an arrest of a non-complying suspect, the techniques and force used by the arresting officer in a split second decision making mode is standard law enforcement operating procedure.”
Duarte said Denunzio refused to submit to a blood-alcohol concentration test — reportedly a violation of his probation terms — and was taken to the Santa Barbara County Jail for an involuntary sample. Because he had been Tasered, Duarte said, officers transported him to Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital to get medically cleared and then returned him to the jail, where he was booked on $10,000 bail for the four misdemeanor charges.
Denunzio was released from custody Saturday morning.
According to Duarte’s statement, Denunzio received hospital treatment for a broken nose, broken ribs and Taser wounds.
The case now will be reviewed by the District Attorney’s Office. A copy of the video was sent as well, and the DA’s Office will decide whether to file criminal charges against Denunzio.
Denunzio has retained attorney Darryl Genis to represent him. In an interview Tuesday with KEYT, Genis said his client had a cocktail at the Boathouse Restaurant at Arroyo Burro Beach County Park, 2981 Cliff Drive, before driving three miles to Gelson’s for groceries.
“I can’t for the life of me imagine where it was appropriate for what would be a routine traffic violation to be deserving of having broken bones and suffer facial injuries,” Genis said in the interview.
Genis issued a statement Wednesday saying that Sanchez’s statement was full of “police propaganda.” Genis called for the video to be given to the news media, and that if the video had been supportive of police testimony, it already would have been released.
“We have a right to see that video sooner, not later, and the police have an obligation to show us, not tell us,” he said.
He added that Denunzio had his blood drawn at County Jail first and was refused when he asked for another sample to be taken at the hospital.
Santa Barbara County Superior Court files show two DUI convictions in the past 10 years for Denunzio. He was charged for related charges in 2003 after being pulled over for weaving in his lane and straddling the broken white line, records show. He was sentenced to Zona Seca’s wet reckless drinking driver program and probation with specific conditions against driving with a suspended license or with any measurable alcohol in his blood.
In February 2009, he pleaded no contest to DUI, having a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent or higher and having one prior, and was sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli contributed to this report. She can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
Comments
