Ex-San Diego Police Officer Says Political Pressure Caused His Firing

Allen A. Stovall testified Thursday that he was unjustly fired as a San Diego police officer for an incident last year in which he said he and a fellow officer fought back against a drunken man whose wife was jumping on them and wildly screaming, “Get their guns! Shoot them!”

“Given the circumstances, given the facts that we could have had an armed suspect and given the fact we had a violent crowd, I think the level of force we used was not only appropriate, but minimal,” Stovall told the city’s Civil Service Commission, which is considering his request for reinstatement.

“I’ve been in lots of situations where officers have been hurt, including myself,” the 28-year-old Stovall added. “And this situation was definitely progressing to where an officer was going to be hurt.”

A three-year police veteran, Stovall was dismissed in December from the San Diego Police Department. His termination notice cited the March, 1988, assault in the Harbor View area, where he allegedly kicked a man in the groin, struck him in the ribs with his police baton, then sprayed Mace in the man’s face.

Brutality Complaint

The notice also referred to an 1987 brutality complaint against Stovall in which he struck a man with the butt of his shotgun.

After the hearing Thursday, Stovall said he believed that the new administration of Police Chief Bob Burgreen, who has pledged to severely discipline officers for misconduct, made an unfair example of him.

“He’s got a lot of political pressure,” Stovall said. “He came out with a statement that he’s not going to tolerate any police officers who are abusive, and I support that. But I don’t believe I was being abusive.”

Police Capt. Kenneth Moller, in defending the department’s decision to strip Stovall of his police badge, said both cases of alleged excessive force indicate a pattern of abuse.

“This is the second kind of incident Officer Stovall was involved in that involved excessive force,” Moller said. “If there had been no prior case, I would not have recommended termination.”

Jose Gonzalez testified Wednesday that the March, 1988, incident began after a gang fight and drive-by shooting erupted on his block near State and Date streets.

He said that, when he asked Stovall and Officer Frank Almond Jr. what had happened, he was immediately seized and pinned against a street sign pole. He said that, although Almond held his arm twisted around the pole, Stovall kicked him six times in the groin, thumped him with the baton and sprayed Mace into his eyes.

On Thursday, Stovall told a different story.

He said that, when he and Almond investigated the shooting, Gonzalez was pointed out to them as a possible suspect or witness. He said they tried to interview him, but Gonzalez became angry and belligerent and refused to cooperate.

“I ran toward him and grabbed his arm to try to stop him,” Stovall said.

He said he and Almond were trying to subdue Gonzalez so they could handcuff him and discuss the shooting. He said he placed Gonzalez in a chokehold, but then eased up.

“I let him go because I heard someone shouting, ‘Take their guns and kill them,’ ” Stovall said.

Both Stovall and Almond testified that Gonzalez’s wife, Guadalupe Gonzalez, was highly emotional, shouting and screaming. They said she was jumping on them and encouraging a crowd of about 15 bystanders to disarm the officers and shoot them.

“I was grabbed” by Guadalupe Gonzalez, Stovall said. “I was jumped on. Somebody pulled on my gun belt. There were several times I thought I was going to lose my gun.”

Sprayed Mace

He said he sprayed Mace at her husband once, but that Jose Gonzalez continued to struggle. Stovall said he then kicked him twice, aiming at the man’s thighs.

“At that point, he stopped fighting,” Stovall said. “We handcuffed him, and he was under arrest.”

“Did you ever hit Mr. Gonzalez with your baton?” asked his attorney, Everett Bobbitt.

“Never,” Stovall said.

“Did you ever touch Mr. Gonzalez with your baton?”

“Never.”

However, under cross-examination by Deputy City Atty. Rick Pinckard, Stovall said that Jose Gonzalez only pushed at him, but never kicked or swung back at him during the altercation. He also said he never told Gonzalez that he was placing him under arrest before or during the fight.

In other testimony Thursday, Sgt. Donald L. Fasching, who teaches defensive tactics at the Police Academy, said Stovall was more than justified in using his feet, the baton and the Mace against Gonzalez, particularly because of the lethal threats from Gonzalez’s wife.

“I’d resort to whatever force option was available to me,” Fasching said.

The commission said it would release its decision on the case within 30 days.