Costa Mesa police investigating whether officers lied in court about 2014 arrest

The Costa Mesa Police Department said Thursday that it is investigating whether some of its officers lied in court about their arrest of a man outside a doughnut shop in 2014 after a defense attorney argued last month that an audio recording and dashboard camera footage from a patrol car contradict the officers’ pretrial testimony.

Orange County prosecutors recently dropped allegations that then-20-year-old Alexander Sorto shoved a Costa Mesa police officer and then tried to escape after police stopped him for questioning about a fight at the shop June 28, 2014.

Sorto had faced four misdemeanor counts related to the incident: one of battery on a police officer and three of resisting arrest.

But prosecutors abandoned the case when an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled that two of the four officers involved in the arrest wouldn’t be allowed to testify at Sorto’s trial. Defense attorney David Swanson had raised questions about their credibility and whether they had the legal right to detain Sorto.

“Irrefutable video and audio evidence establishes ... that the various officers involved in the case have repeatedly lied,” Swanson wrote in a brief filed last month.

On Thursday morning, Costa Mesa Police Chief Rob Sharpnack met with senior staff members and launched an internal investigation.

“You can be sure we’re going to do everything in our power to thoroughly investigate the allegations” against the officers, Sharpnack said. “If wrongdoing is discovered, we are going to hold our personnel accountable for their actions.”

Sharpnack said he learned of the accusations that his officers lied from an article in the OC Weekly, which reported on the case Wednesday.

“If those allegations are, in fact, true, I find them deeply concerning,” Sharpnack said.

Officer Christopher Walk claimed in his testimony that Sorto suddenly pushed him to the ground and ran, but an audio recorder in a nearby police car captured a conversation after the altercation in which Walk told another officer that he fell when he tried to grab Sorto by the head and missed, according to Swanson.

Swanson alleges the recording also includes the sound of Sorto screaming and crying when Officer Christina Natividad Tased him without giving him a chance to comply with instructions from police.

At a June 17 hearing, the judge ruled that statements from both Walk and Natividad would be barred at Sorto’s trial. Ten days later, prosecutors asked to dismiss the charges.

Because the case essentially stemmed from allegations that Sorto battered Walk, prosecutors had no choice but to dismiss the case when the judge ruled the officer couldn’t testify, according to Jamie Coulter, senior assistant district attorney.

“If none of Officer Walk’s testimony is admissible, then there’s no crime,” Coulter said.

According to the officers’ account in court documents reviewed by the Daily Pilot, Sorto was inside the Dippity Donuts shop across Newport Boulevard from The Triangle shopping center when an early morning fight broke out in the shop.

Walk testified that he was about 150 feet from the store when he heard an alarm and saw the scuffle inside, according to court documents.

Walk said that as he arrived, he saw Sorto run from the building and hide behind bushes in the parking lot.

Walk said he approached Sorto and told him to return to the shop, but Sorto refused and began walking away.

The officer said he put a hand on Sorto’s shoulder, prompting Sorto to brush it away and continue walking.

Walk said he grabbed Sorto by the shoulders and that Sorto responded by ducking and spinning away so that he was facing the officer.

Walk alleged Sorto shoved him in the chest and shoulder, causing him to fall forward into a somersault before catching himself on his knee and hands.

According to Walk, Sorto then ran, prompting the officer to chase him and hit him on a leg with his baton.

Three other officers quickly converged on Sorto, who ended up on his stomach after being tackled, according to court documents.

Police alleged Sorto held his arms tightly to his chest while on the ground, ignoring repeated commands from officers who were trying to cuff his wrists behind his back.

An officer twice used a Taser on Sorto, after which Sorto allowed officers to cuff him, according to the police account.

At the June 17 hearing, Swanson played the dashcam recording from Natividad’s patrol car.

Swanson wrote in his brief that the video shows police arriving after Sorto had already left the doughnut shop.

In the footage, he contended, Walk arrives and, after a few minutes, enters the building and eventually walks toward a side door.

Sorto is nowhere to be seen, Swanson said, contradicting Walk’s testimony that he saw Sorto running from the fight and that he immediately went to question him. Without actually seeing Sorto flee, Walk had no legal right to detain him, according to Swanson.

Sorto’s altercation with Walk happens out of the dashcam’s view, but the footage does show other officers at the scene reacting to something at the same time and sprinting toward it, according to court documents.

Walk testified that when he fell, his radio flew off his belt and landed on the street, making a loud noise.

Natividad testified that she saw Sorto push Walk. But Swanson contended the video shows her looking in the opposite direction before she and Officer Arnold Alegado turn and sprint toward Walk, presumably reacting to the sound of the radio hitting the ground.

Coulter said Thursday that prosecutors contend the dashcam video doesn’t necessarily refute the officers’ testimony because it shows only a narrow view of what happened. Coulter said his office is reviewing the case and considering appealing the judge’s decision to throw out Natividad’s and Walk’s testimony.

Swanson didn’t present the separate audio recording at the June 17 hearing, but in a brief filed about a week later, he wrote that the tape presents even more evidence to challenge the officers’ honesty in the case.

In the recording, Swanson said, Natividad can be heard shouting “Tase! Tase!” a moment before she uses a Taser on Sorto.

Multiple officers testified that they warned Sorto to put his hands behind his back before Natividad used the Taser, but, according to Swanson’s description of the recording, the Taser was used first.

It wasn’t until after the first jolt that officers begin yelling at Sorto to give them his hands, according to Swanson.

When he was Tased a second time, Sorto apparently complied and was handcuffed, according to court documents.

Swanson wrote that after Sorto was in custody, the audio recorder captured a conversation between Walk and another officer in which Walk gave a contradictory description of how he fell and his radio went flying.

“No, so basically I went to grab him around his head and take him down and I missed his head and overshot him,” Walk reportedly said. “Yeah, I missed him and he spun out on me.”

None of the officers mentioned the attempted headlock in their reports, according to Swanson.

The account of his fall that Walk gave in court also contradicts other officers’ testimony, Swanson said. Court documents say Walk said he fell forward after being pushed in the chest, while other officers said they saw him fall backward.

Police alleged that Sorto later admitted that he pushed Walk, but Swanson said the admission wasn’t true.

“He’d been Tased and beat on by a baton, and by that time, he’s like, ‘Whatever you want me to say. I pushed you, OK,’” Swanson said.