Police misconduct investigator quits, says Richmond’s oversight board ‘ignores evidence’

The lead independent investigator for Richmond’s Community Police Review Commission has resigned, claiming new commissioners appointed to the civilian oversight body have not been objective and are biased.

Jerry Threet, who joined the CPRC as its investigator in 2020, said in a resignation letter sent Tuesday morning that he was resigning because he no longer has confidence that the group will make justifiable decisions on police misconduct cases.

“Put plainly, I no longer believe the commission can be relied upon to reach a valid finding on allegations of officer misconduct based on an objective, thorough, and unbiased view of the totality of the investigative evidence,” Threet wrote in the email which was obtained by Richmondside. “Unfortunately, that is the standard that must be met to honor both the ethical obligations of each commissioner, as well as the due process rights of the civil servants who serve as Richmond Police Department officers.”

In addition to Threet’s claims of bias, he detailed how the CRPC has changed as new commissioners have been appointed. There are currently eight citizens listed as members, with a total of nine seats. Richmond City Council member Claudia Jimenez is the commission’s council liaison, and Shane Johnson is listed as staff liaison. The body meets monthly, and its meetings are public. Commissioners serve three-year terms.

“Sometimes, evidence is completely ignored, even when it is crucial to the questions at issue in the investigation, such as the officer’s state of mind at the time. At times, commissioners have described the evidence in ways that are diametrically opposed to the actual facts in evidence,” Threet wrote.“Some commissioners have accused those with a different view of the facts with bias in favor of police officers for considering evidence that supports the officers’ actions as appropriate under the circumstances.”

Additionally, Threet said that some commissioners have turned difficult conversations into “grudge matches” and, he said, have not thoroughly reviewed evidence presented to them. He, however, did not specify which commissioners have engaged in this behavior.

“Commissioners often first open the files of investigative evidence a couple of hours prior to the closed session when a matter will be considered, as indicated by the time stamps of their access through DropBox,” he wrote. “There sometimes is little to no effort by commissioners to watch all relevant body worn camera video footage that is material to the issues under consideration. Yet, some commissioners come to the discussion of the cases with strong opinions that do not seem informed by a thorough understanding of the evidence.”

One of the recent appointees, Marisol Cantu, who also is a member of Reimagine Richmond — a local public safety reform group formed in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in 2020 — shared an emailed statement by the group refuting Threet’s claims, saying that the issues surrounding the oversight body predate recent appointees of Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez.

“This underscores that many of the issues raised stem from the CPRC practices, predating more recent efforts for reform,” the statement reads. “We recognize that the CPRC needs to be strengthened, and it is critical to do so for it to be effective in ensuring accountability and transparency.”

The group also added that they agreed with Threet’s suggestion that the commission should receive ethical training.

“The idea of ethics training affirms the importance of objectivity in the commission’s work,” the statement continued. “However, the CPRC is structurally skewed in ways that undermine the ability to maintain true objectivity, often favoring RPD.”

In a phone conversation with Richmondside Wednesday, Threet, a private attorney who served as Sonoma County’s first director of the Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach from 2016 to 2019, said he didn’t want to comment about specific commissioners or instances referenced in his resignation letter but said that during his time working for the city he was able to get the backlog of cases the commission reviews down from 13 in 2020 to one in May. This backlog consisted of cases that were reaching the one-year statute of limitations under state law.

“You have one year from the time that a city gets notice of alleged misconduct for the police department to impose any discipline as the result of an investigation,” he said.

He also said his departure wasn’t a surprise to city officials because he had agreed to a contract with another city earlier this year. He did say that he’s leaving earlier than planned.

The resignation came just hours before anti-police violence advocates addressed the city council during its regular Tuesday night meeting, calling for increased CPRC oversight of the Richmond Police Department in light of a highly publicized case from May involving Kwesi Guss, a Black Richmond cowboy, and Sgt. Alexander Caine.

According to Guss, who spoke to Richmondside but did not address the council, he was using his cell phone to record police activity on May 5 near Joe’s Market on Macdonald Avenue and 1st Street, near his home, when he had a verbal exchange with Caine that turned physical, with Caine striking him and another officer knocking him down and handcuffing him. His cell phone recorded some of the incident

Guss, a lifelong resident of the city, said he is still dealing with trauma. He said Caine struck him multiple times, leaving him with injuries including head trauma, bruised ribs and back pain. 

In May, Guss filed a civil rights claim against the city alleging that the police department assaulted him and violated his rights. (Caine is white.) The filing of a claim is a legal precursor in filing a lawsuit against a city.

“I’m still seeing a psychiatrist and a therapist,” he said. “I still have bad dreams about it. It’s stressful. I feel like they (Richmond police) are watching me.”

In the aftermath,the Richmond Police Officers Association declared its support for Caine, saying that Guss was “responsible for his actions” and that Caine believed Guss was a threat to responding officers.

“The Richmond Police Officers Association stands firmly behind Sgt. Caine and the actions taken during this high-risk incident,” the RPOA posted on their Facebook page in May. “We urge the public to consider the full context and facts as they emerge, recognizing the complexities and dangers officers face in protecting the residents of Richmond.”

“After all this that happened they say that they stand behind him. For them to even say that is crazy to me with a clear video like that,” he said, adding that he was unaware of the RPOA’s statement of support until now.

Caine, who has been employed by the Richmond Police Department since 2009, has a record of violent incidents. According to records obtained by the California Reporting Project, a multi-newsroom coalition formed to request and analyze police records, he seriously injured people in at least 11 separate encounters since 2014. He is currently on administrative duty.

According to a Bay Area News Group report from 2021, Caine — a K9 officer — deployed his dog to bite three people during roughly a three-week period. He was also involved in a  police shooting that killed Kevin James McDonald, 66, in his bedroom after McDonald pointed a gun at officers. The Contra Costa County Coroner’s jury ruled that McDonald’s death was a suicide.

Reimagine Richmond, which filed a complaint with the CPRC on behalf of Guss, sent out media alerts before Tuesday’scouncil meeting and posted an online toolkit to guide its supporters on how to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting. The topic was not on the council’s regular agenda.

The group accuses the police review commission of being ineffective and lacking power and transparency, saying the CPRC does not follow best practices established statewide for such commissions.

The RPOA was contacted for comment on Threet’s resignation as well as the calls for more CPRC oversight of the department but did not respond back by publication time.

During Tuesday night’s meeting, about15 community advocates with Reimagine Richmond expressed support for Guss and called for the council to grant the CPRC the ability to investigate claims that fall outside of the current parameters of only handling cases involving discharging a weapon, death or serious bodily injury.

According to the police commission’s city webpage, its responsibilities are to:

• Investigate complaints from members of the public, alleging excessive or unnecessary force, discrimination, sexual harassment and/or sexual assault by on-duty Richmond Police Officers.  
• Conduct investigations on all incidents involving the discharge of a firearm at a person by a Richmond Police Officer, and/or when death or serious bodily injury results from direct police action.
• Handle appeals from the Office of Professional Accountability
• Review and evaluate the policies, practices, and procedures contained in the Richmond Police Department Manual and report to the Chief of Police, City Manager, and City Council
• Develop programs and strategies to promote positive police-community relations

Sister of man who died in Richmond police custody addresses council

Petronila Fernandes, the sister of Jose Luis Lopez, who died in Richmond police custody in March 2020 after a paramedic injected him with a sedative after a struggle with police, also spoke out Tuesday in support of more CPRC oversight.

In an interview Wednesday with Richmondside, Fernandes said she was unaware of the CPRC or the process at the time of Lopez’ death especially since she doesn’t speak English and her brother’s death happened during the COVID pandemic. 

In her brother’s case, Threet found that three Richmond police officers used unnecessary force during the incident, according to public records. The case was one of two Richmond injection death cases cited in an Associated Press investigation into these types of police-involved deaths nationwide.  Ivan Gutzalenko, 47, died after he was held down by police in a prone position and administered a sedative.

Lopez, who was 40, was subjected to restraint methods including: Taser or conducted energy weapon, punched, struck with knees and elbows, put on ground, struck with baton or other object, held down with a knee to the neck, handcuffed, put in a spit hood/wrap device and given a sedative, according to the AP.

However, in the Richmond Police Department’s internal investigation into the incident, investigators found that only one officer used unreasonable force for his use of a carotid hold during the incident while clearing the 10 other officers involved in Lopez’ struggle with police at the scene of a domestic violence call.

According to the department, the lone officer found to have used unreasonable force was injured during the struggle with Lopez and eventually retired in June 2021 after spending more than a year on disability leave. The department investigator was “unable to conduct a follow-up interview with him.”

“I didn’t know that they had been looking at his case. At the time, I didn’t know about the commission,” Fernandes told Richmondside.said. “It’s a confusing system for me. They make recommendations that the department doesn’t have to abide by. How are they (police) seemingly investigating themselves?”

Guss also didn’t know about the CPRC prior to the aftermath of the May 5 incident, he said, adding that he was thankful for the group’s help in navigating the process — one that he didn’t know requires a complaint to be filed within120 days.

“I appreciate it so much to have people speak about me that don’t know me,” he said, adding that he was also happy to meet Rick Perez after the public commenters left the meeting. “I didn’t know about any of that (CPRC process) before.”

According to Reimagine Richmond, other oversight bodies around the Bay Area, specifically in Oakland and San Francisco, don’t have deadlines for those who wish to file complaints.

Perez is the father of Pedie Perez, the 24-year-old who was shot and killed by Richmond police Officer Wallace Jensen outside of Uncle Sam’s Liquor Store on Cutting Boulevard almost ten years ago, on Sept. 14, 2014.

The public show of support for Guss came just before the council voted on a resolution to rename a portion of Spring Street to honor Pedie Perez.

The council voted unanimously on the renaming and is scheduling a hearing date for Sept. 24.