By Carlos Miller
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System is refusing to release the incident report where a group of trolley officers were caught on video aggressively wrestling down a man who refused to put out a cigarette.
The trolley officers, who are not certified law enforcement officers but private security guards from Heritage Security Services, also turned on the videographer, ordering him to stop filming.
But the videographer, Rob Hurlbut, continued filming, capturing a struggle between three trolley officers and a man who was complaining that they were hurting him.
Hurlbut posted the video on his website last September and it was also reported by a local NBC affiliated news station that month. That video is below.
It was then reported on Photography is Not a Crime earlier this month where it picked up further steam and is now being reported in the San Diego Reader, an alternative weekly.
San Diego Reader’s request to view the incident report from that evening was denied by Tiffany Lorenzen, general counsel for Metropolitan Transit System, based on the California Public Records Act, which exempts documents from disclosure that are either: (1) records pertaining to current litigation to which the public agency is a party; or (2) records of complaints to, or investigations conducted by the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice, and any state, or local police agency.
Lorenzen did not confirm MTS’s reason for refusing to disclose the incident report.
While smoking is forbidden on the platforms of the trolley system, it is usually handled by citing the offender rather than tackling and arresting him.
When the story first aired on NBC last September, the focus was on how Hurlbut was harassed for filming the trolley officers. The president of Heritage Security Services even went as far as apologizing to Hurlbut.
But as more people kept viewing the video, especially on this site, the attention started to turn to why the trolley officers were so aggressive in dealing with a man who had refused to put out a cigarette.
Now the question is whether or not these trolley officers are receiving adequate training.
It doesn’t appear that they are.
Several trolley officers spoke to 10News under the condition of anonymity and claimed Heritage did not provide proper training for its employees. Two officers who spoke to 10News’ Mitch Blacher said officers who carry guns are not trained to handle critical situations.
“It’s dangerous for the officers and, to some extent, the public,” one former officer stated.
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4 responses so far ↓
1 Rob // Feb 26, 2010 at 3:21 PM
I REALLY want to know what the actual reason for the incident report not being released is.
Hopefully, this video and the apparent ongoing litigation will help to shed some light on what San Diego trolley guards are doing and how they are treating commuters day to day.
Rob´s last blog ..Technomania Circus’s Mob Show
2 Nate K. // Feb 26, 2010 at 4:34 PM
Wow, lots to be troubled by in that video. Two (very disparate) thoughts:
1. Those were private security guards, not police officers. In California, security guards have exactly the same arrest powers as a private citizen. If the security guards weren’t prosecuted for that violent arrest, that implies that an ordinary citizen could have lawfully — and with impunity — wrestled the smoker to the ground, kneeled on his head, cuffed him, than thrown him in the back of an SUV; somehow, I doubt that if I’d tried that in my non-uniformed, non-corporate-backed, not-tacitly-endorsed-by-the-city capacity, I’d be looking at serious criminal charges (assault, kidnapping) on top of a well-deserved civil lawsuit.
2. Our one-note argument on this site, valid as it may be, is that “photography is not a crime.” Given such abominations as the PATRIOT Act, it’s just a matter of time before some political consultant realizes that passing a “Prevention of Terrorist Photography Act” would make a fantastic election-year soundbite. The overwhelming majority of the voting public would unthinkingly accept the idea, and you’d better believe that every police union in the country would lend its highly visible blue-uniformed support.
The way things are going, 10 years from now I’d probably be afraid to even write this comment, as the legal barriers to casual warrantless police browsing of Internet logs will probably have completely fallen by then.
3 Roger Estillana // May 15, 2010 at 11:54 PM
Hi i have been have the same horrible experience the same way that video was it was terrifying i was only trying to get to work and they assaulted me and they were saying that because i was smoking,so i did put the cigarretes out then they assaulted me like im some kind of criminal first of all smoking has always been legal,and on the top of it they dont call a police first they caused a damage ,at this point i think that security cops wanna be, should removed from the bussines because i dont think they are in safe mental condition, and dont think they can tell the difference between right from wrong
4 Roger Estillana // May 16, 2010 at 8:16 AM
Just to correct my information yes it is obvious that san diego trolley must explore a way to do trolley bussiness because it is getting out of hand, the securities must be removed,because it is not safe for the communities,in Washington DC for example trolleys do not have a securities but rather a sophisticated smart entry system because this all about rides nothing more,because of greed trolley systems were able to evade crimes they have commited since back in the 80s im not sure if they have connections with the court systems, i think it is obvious,because courts system arent doing anything about it, and i think that this is all about money, embedded with violence and now a possible revolution that could last for hundreds of years.
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