Deputies charged in San Francisco beating caught on video

Two Alameda County sheriff’s deputies have been charged with multiple felonies after video showed them repeatedly hitting a suspected car thief during an arrest in San Francisco last year, officials said Tuesday.

The alleyway beating of the suspect, Stanislav Petrov, was caught on surveillance video (Note: The video, above, is disturbing and contains several shouted obscenities) and released on YouTube in November by the San Francisco public defender’s office, which said it received the footage from someone who operates a security camera in the area.

The grainy footage shows two Alameda County sheriff’s deputies chasing a man on foot. As the man slows, one officer tackles him and punches him twice. The second officer arrives and starts hitting Petrov with his baton. Soon both officers can be seen hitting Petrov with their batons.

Sometimes Petrov can be seen lying on the ground and other times on his knees. Once the officers begin striking him, he does not appear to be resisting.

“Policing that violates our constitutional rights damages the reputation of every person that wears the uniform, and it damages the public’s perception of those that are sworn to serve,” San Francisco Dist. Atty. George Gascon said in a statement announcing the charges. “When officers take the law into their own hands, they undermine the moral authority of the entire criminal justice system.”

The deputies, Luis Santamaria and Paul Wieber, are 14- and three-year veterans of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, respectively, officials said. They are charged with assault under the color of authority, battery with serious bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon. They’re expected to surrender by Wednesday and be held in lieu of $140,000 bail.

The deputies were placed on leave after the Nov. 12 arrest.

“It’s gratifying that the people that assaulted him have finally been charged,” said William Osterhoudt, an attorney representing Petrov in an unrelated federal criminal case.

The video of Petrov’s beating was “one of the worst” Osterhoudt had ever seen, he said.

Petrov’s hands were broken during the arrest and he suffered cuts to his head and a concussion, Gascon said.