Orange County DA Drops Charges in Filmed Santa Ana Arrest Case; Probation Hearing to Follow
MyNewsLA (City News Service) reported that a 28-year-old man whose filmed arrest in Santa Ana prompted allegations of excessive force had his criminal case dismissed by prosecutors on Tuesday, October 13, though he will still face a hearing on a probation violation, his attorney said.
Florentino Lopez was charged earlier this month with a felony count of resisting arrest, a misdemeanour count of resisting a peace officer, a misdemeanour count of smoking marijuana near a school or daycare centre and an infraction for being a pedestrian in the right of way outside a crosswalk. His sister took the video that circulated online of two officers striking Lopez during the arrest. Lopez, who had posted bail and was out of custody, had his bond exonerated on Tuesday.
His attorney, John Kremer, said prosecutors will pursue the probation violation instead, for which the potential punishment is lesser, with a typical term of 90 days, although that can be negotiated with a judge. Kremer said the defence is pursuing a full hearing, and speculated that prosecutors may have wanted to avoid a Pitchess motion, the legal procedure for requesting an officer's personnel records; he said he would research whether the motion can still be run in the probation hearing. During Tuesday's Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento praised the Santa Ana City Council for hiring an outside expert to review the arrest. 'I think what troubles me is we have incidents like this and they are not investigated,' Sarmiento said.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 橙县圣安娜老法院大楼实景。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，Nkpug 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0 授权
