Police Harassment Is Alleged by Activist in Sagon Penn Case

The former head of the Sagon Penn Legal Defense Committee said Tuesday she was harassed last weekend by two San Diego police officers who took her to jail on suspicion of driving under the influence even though a breath test revealed only a trace of alcohol.

Reiko Obata, 31, a San Diego legal secretary, said the officers were clearly upset about what they repeatedly described as her “attitude” toward police.

“It was obvious to me they knew I was with the Sagon Penn thing,” Obata said. “They asked me, ‘Do you hate police? It seems you have an attitude against police.’ ”

Penn, a 25-year-old black man, was acquitted of most charges last month after a second trial in the March 31, 1985, shooting death of police Agent Thomas Riggs and the wounding of Agent Donovan Jacobs. The Penn case has caused deep friction between the Police Department and the city’s minority community in Southeast San Diego.

As chairwoman of Penn’s defense committee, Obata organized rallies critical of police conduct and was widely quoted on television and in newspapers.

A police spokesman, Cmdr. Keith Enerson, said that Obata ran a stop sign on Friars Road about 2 a.m. Saturday and failed a field sobriety test. When Obata’s breath test registered .01%--a .10% alcohol level is a legal presumption of drunkenness--police took her to jail anyway because they suspected she was under the influence of drugs, Enerson said. Breathalyzer tests only measure the level of alcohol consumption.

“There are more facts to the case than she has chosen to give you,” Enerson said. “The reason she was taken into custody was her driving and then her performance on the (field sobriety) tests that she performed afterwards.”

Obata failed a “walk and turn” test because she raised her arms to maintain her balance and took the incorrect number of steps and failed a “standing alphabet” test because she was unable to maintain her balance and keep her eyes closed at the same time, according to a four-page police report.

Obata was arrested by Officer Ken Carona, a police trainee who was working with David Williams, a field training officer. Officer Williams declined to comment on the case.

In his police report, Carona said that Obata “was so intoxicated that (she) could have been a danger to (herself) or to others.” The police trainee noted that Obata had alcohol on her breath, her eyes were bloodshot, she was “loud” and “abusive” and exhibited “belligerent” and “arrogant” behavior. Carona added that Obata “kept having instructions repeated and interrupting while I talked.”

Obata, who said she has not been arrested before and does not use drugs, said she had two and a half drinks earlier that night. She said she explained to the officers that her eyes were bloodshot because she works 12 hours a day typing on a word processor.

Says She Passed Tests

“They gave me 10 field sobriety tests,” Obata said. “I passed all of them. They said I did not because they didn’t like my attitude, which was, I’m protesting this . . . they knew they had an articulate person who was not an alcoholic or a druggie. It was simply the fact that I was protesting my being harassed.”

Obata said she and a girlfriend had left a Mission Valley restaurant in different cars when they drove through flares set up on Friars Road. When police stopped the girlfriend to issue her a ticket for driving through a stop sign, Obata pulled up behind the squad car to wait, she said.

Although the police report said that Obata also ran a stop sign, she was not cited for that offense.

Obata said that Officer Williams approached her car and demanded to see a driver’s license.

Obata recalled, “He said, ‘Let me see your driver’s license.’ I said, ‘What is the charge, sir? You’re pulling her over, not me.’

“He said, ‘I’m pulling you over now.’ ”

Recalling that the violent encounter between police and Sagon Penn began over his refusal to give officers his driver’s license, Obata said, she gave Williams her license.

After taking the sobriety tests, Obata said, she was handcuffed and put into the back of a squad car.

At the police station, a breath test showed a trace amount of alcohol in her system.

When she learned the officers were going to take her to jail anyway, Obata asked that the officers take blood and urine samples. She said police took a urine sample but refused to give her a blood test.

While being taken to Las Colinas Jail for women, Obata said, she asked the officers why she was being taken to jail after passing the breath test. The officers did not give her an answer, she said.

Booked Into Jail

Obata was booked into jail and placed in a holding cell with other inmates. She was not released until after 6 a.m.

“I was frisked at Las Colinas and thrown in with 12 other women,” she said. “They said, ‘You don’t look like an alcoholic.’ It was a terrible night, a harrowing experience.”

Her parents, James and Donna Obata, who are college instructors in San Diego, said that police were critical of their daughter’s attitude.

At the police station, a desk officer asked Donna Obata whether Reiko Obata had a drug or alcohol problem and stated that she “does not like police,” Donna Obata said.

Donna Obata said that Officer Williams told her at the jail that her daughter had an attitude problem because she didn’t want to show the police her license. Williams explained that Obata initially was arrested for a traffic violation. The officer then indicated that “it was an attitude that caused him to question her on alcohol or drugs or a mental problem,” Donna Obata said.

Williams then asked Donna Obata if her daughter had “an attitude about police.”

“I said, ‘We’ve grown up in Southeast San Diego and we’ve seen plenty and you’re not all nice guys. That may account for something that she said,’ ” Donna Obata said.

Reiko Obata has a Sept. 8 court date and is awaiting the results of the urinalysis.

Two San Diego defense attorneys who know Obata said they could not imagine any circumstances under which Obata would defy police.

“She is not wild or aggressive,” said attorney Louis Katz, who has known Obata and her parents for more than 20 years. “She is a very staid, controlled individual and she has had very responsible jobs working for government agencies. My experience with her has been that she is very respectful of the law at all times.”

Obata, a graduate of UC Berkeley, worked in 1984 and 1985 as a secretary for Justice Edward Butler of the 4th District Court of Appeal. Butler’s research attorney during that period had high praise for Obata.

“Justice Butler chose her from all of the secretaries at Superior Court,” said attorney Judith Rosen. “The reason he chose her is she is a most competent, hard-working young woman. It is impossible for me to believe, and incredible that she would be verbally or otherwise abusive to anybody. She is most restrained, shy in fact . . . “