Padres’ Santiago Arrested, Claims Police Beat Him

Padre catcher Benito Santiago was arrested Sunday night on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and resisting arrest after an incident during which the player alleged he was beaten by three police officers.

Coronado Police Dept. spokesman Detective Keith James said Santiago was booked for DUI and resisting arrest. Ed Checkert, deputy district attorney in the South Bay office, said charges have not been filed.

Santiago said Thursday night he was innocent and said he sustained a black eye, a scratch on the side of his face, a sore neck and a sore forearm.

Ishmael Fonseca, the arresting officer, was unavailable for comment. Sgt. James Adams, a shift supervisor who said he was familiar with the case, said Santiago was not mistreated.

“What our guys did was right,” Adams said. “Benito pushed it.”

Scott Boras, Santiago’s agent and lawyer, said Thursday night that he is uncomfortable with the way the matter was handled.

“The entire case will be reviewed succinctly by myself and our legal department,” Boras said, “and (police) conduct will be scrutinized in accordance with provisional rules and regulations governing the conduct of police officers in that situation. If after review we find their conduct not within those standards, we will definitely pursue litigation.”

Said Adams: “Let’s go to court. When the situation comes out in court, I think you’ll find what Benito said is not accurate, and we’ll prove it.

“It’s a free country. People can say what they want. Let Benito say whatever he wants. He’s a public person.”

Adams went on to say he anticipated the matter will end up in court.

“Sure,” he said. “That’s what most people in his condition do, go to court. People making $1 million a year. Zsa Zsa Gabor went to court, didn’t she?”

Padre President Dick Freeman said he knew nothing about the matter.

“I’m not aware of it,” Freeman said. “I’ve got no comment.”

Santiago said the incident occurred after he stopped his car to try to assist his sister and daughter, whose vehicle had been pulled over by police.

According to James, who said he was reading from the police report, Santiago was arrested at 11:33 p.m. Sunday in the area of the Coronado Toll Plaza as he was traveling eastbound.

“It appears that another vehicle was stopped for a traffic violation and the vehicle driven by Santiago pulled over and got involved in the stop the officer made on the other vehicle,” James said.

James said it was determined at that time that Santiago was under the influence of alcohol.

“After he resisted arrest, he was subdued, taken into police custody and taken to the police department.”

He was then booked in the County Jail and released about four hours later.

Santiago, 25, said he and his wife, Blanco, were leaving Coronado in one car and his sister, Eneida, 42, and daughter, Benny Beth, 5, were following him in another car. He said that they had just had dinner at his family doctor’s house in Coronado and were on their way home to Chula Vista when Eneida’s car was stopped by the police.

According to Santiago, he also stopped because Eneida does not speak English.

“I want to find out what’s wrong,” Santiago said. “They said, ‘Stay inside your car.’ I told the guy, ‘I don’t want no trouble.’ A couple of minutes later, one more car came up.”

Boras said Santiago told him: “He went (to his sister’s car) because he wanted to get his daughter because she was crying. The officer told him to get back in (his) car and he went back to the car and waited. The officer called a back-up, and Benito said he got out of the car to see what was going on . . . his daughter was still crying in (his sister’s) car. That’s when the three officers pushed and grabbed him and arrested him.”

Adams said Santiago’s sister--whom all parties agreed was the person who was first pulled over--was neither arrested nor charged with anything.

Santiago said he was given a blood test after his arrest but was not given results.

Boras, meanwhile, said he can’t understand why Santiago was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving because he was never observed driving the car by police officers.

“He was never pulled over by police officers,” Boras said.

Santiago, who has been with the Padres since he breaking into the major leagues in 1986, was selected to last summer’s National League All-Star team but couldn’t play because of a fractured left forearm. He played in 100 games and finished the season batting .270 with 11 home runs and 53 RBI.

It was his best year since 1987, when he had a 34-game hitting streak and was a unanimous choice for NL Rookie of the Year. He batted .300 that year with 18 homers and 79 RBIs.