FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 12, 2019

Contacts: Oakland Police Officers’ Association: (510) 834-9670 or policeofficers@opoa.org

Rain Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver PC: (925) 609-1699 or ctichenor@rlslawyers.com

Oakland Police Officers Exonerated Yet Fired; File Lawsuit Demanding That Oakland Comply with City Charter.

OAKLAND – Five Oakland Police Officers have filed a lawsuit in Alameda Superior Court demanding that the City of Oakland and its Police Commission comply with the City’s Charter and Municipal Code. These five Police Officers – exonerated by six separate investigations into their conduct during a March 2018 officer involved shooting – have been notified that despite the unanimous investigatory conclusion that their use of force was lawful the City intends to terminate their employment.

The Oakland Police Commission’s own investigative arm, the Community Police Review Agency, the Oakland Police Department Internal Affairs Division, the Department’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Department’s Executive Force Review Board, the Chief of the Police and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office all reviewed and exonerated the use of force by Oakland Police Officers on an armed suspect in March 2018 – unanimously concluding that the Police Officers’ actions were reasonable and lawful. Yet, the Police Commission decided to ignore the facts and findings of all these investigative bodies and fired these exonerated Police Officers. The Police Commission’s actions are politically motivated untethered to the law or the facts. The Police Commission’s blind dash to condemn these brave public servants led it to violate the investigatory and disciplinary process as set forth in the City Charter and Municipal Code.

Attorney for the Police Officers Harry Stern, partner in the law firm Rain Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver, explained “The court action filed today is a demand for justice. The City of Oakland and its Police Commission abandoned their own rules to unjustly terminate these fine officers. These officers’ response to a citizen’s call for help regarding an armed suspect in a residential neighborhood was admirable, reasonable and lawful. Their actions have been fully investigated and unanimously exonerated after over a year of review. The Police Commission ignored the findings of multiple investigations, including their own, and in a blatant display of bias, trampled these officers’ rights by unjustly firing them for merely doing their duty. We are going to court to right this wrong.”

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan said “The petition filed in court speaks for itself. These officers were investigated, exonerated and then unjustly fired. It is disappointing that these officers have to go to court to force our employer to follow its own rules and do the right thing.”

About the Oakland Police Officers’ Association: The Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) represents all sworn members at all ranks within the Oakland Police Department. Representing the hardest working Police Officers in America. The OPOA can be found on the Web at www.opoa.org.

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