Mesa pays $5.4M to settle 10 claims against cops
Scott Shumaker, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.)
Sun, October 16, 2022 at 10:59 PM·7 min read
Oct. 16—The City of Mesa settled 10 police excessive force, assault and wrongful death claims involving the Mesa Police Department in the first six months of 2022 with payouts totaling $5,444,000.
Records obtained by the Tribune through a public records request show the payments ranged from $4,000 to $2.45 million and stem from incidents that occurred between 2017 and 2020.
Several of the settlements involve high profile cases that drew public attention to Mesa PD over the past five years.
The settlements release the city and the officers involved from any liabilities or future payments to the plaintiffs, who filed suits in local and federal courts.
All the settlements contain language stating that the city denies wrongdoing, and include the statement that "Plaintiff acknowledges this payment is a settlement and compromise of a disputed claim and that the Released Parties deny wrongdoing and liability," or similar disclaimers.
Asked if the size of settlements so far this year are typical, Mesa Director of Communications Ana Pereria said, "Many different factors drive the annual amount spent on settlement of claims and lawsuits. It also varies by departments, types of claims or other categories.
"One of the most significant factors is when there is a settlement of one or two significant claims in a calendar year, which then results in a material increase in the settlement amount for that year.
"Mesa engages in mediation with professional and experienced mediators; and when it is appropriate and reasonable, we seek to resolve claims through mediation and settlement. In 2022, Mesa had a couple large settlements, after mediation, involving claims against the Mesa Police Department that were based on some unique sets of facts and are not reflective of any pattern within the Mesa Police Department."
Andre Miller, senior pastor of New Beginnings Christian Church in Mesa, was involved in one of the settled excessive force cases because he lived in the building where it occurred and involved a man in his congregation.
"It is financial justice for some, but it still leads us to ask the question, have we changed policies to ensure these things don't happen again? I think that's the only question that the community has because, one, this is the community's money," Miller said.
"My hope is that the chief is looking at this and saying, 'what can we do as an agency to ensure we don't find ourselves in positions where we end up having to settle with citizens because of officers' behavior?'"
"I think settlement money could be better used with teaching better tactics that are preventing us from being in this place, where we have excessive force settlements or loss of life settlements," he added.
Officers involved in at least two of the incidents have left the department.
Sariah Lane killed in crossfire
The largest settlement from the first half of 2022 is $2.45 million to Jennifer Lane, mother of Sariah Lane, who was killed by a Mesa police officer in Glendale while sitting in the back seat of a car occupied by two others in 2017.
Three Mesa officers were part of a task force that was attempting to apprehend the driver of the vehicle, Brandon Pequeno, who was wanted for kidnapping, domestic violence, aggravated assault and was considered "armed and dangerous."
When Pequeno began to ram cars with his vehicle during the attempt to arrest him, the Mesa officers opened fire with 11 shots at the car. A bullet fired by Micheal Pezzelle struck Sariah Lane in the head. She was hospitalized in critical condition and died four days later.
Pequeno was also killed, while the other passenger in the car was uninjured.
A
change.org petition created by Sariah's sister Joann blamed Mesa police for the death, writing that officers "shouldn't fire into a single car with three other people in there. Including an innocent 17-year-old girl."
Sariah's mother later filed suits against the city and Pezzelle.
According to the settlement, Jennifer Lane will be paid by the city's insurer.
Unarmed man shot in buttock
The second-largest settlement so far this year is $1.75 million paid to Randy Sewell, who survived a gunshot to the buttocks from then-Mesa Officer Nathan Chisler while officers attempted to handcuff Sewell.
Sewell was among three men asked to leave Ojos Locos Sports Cantina by management on Dec. 6, 2019 after reportedly drinking heavily. The men left the restaurant, but management called Mesa PD to have the men placed on a trespassed list.
Officers found the men in the parking lot outside waiting for rides. Sewell refused to give his name or provide ID to officers. They attempted to handcuff Sewell after he started walking away. Sewell resisted, and multiple officers struggled to cuff him after deploying a taser.
Sewell gripped a light post as he continued to struggle when Chistler unholstered his pistol and fired a single round into Sewell's left buttock during the chaotic scene.
Sewell was found not guilty of resisting arrest by a jury last year. Chisler was fired by Mesa PD and charged with aggravated assault before a judge dismissed the case in December 2020.
Unarmed man beat down
Dramatic video footage of Mesa police officers punching an unarmed Robert Lee Johnson to unconsciousness in the stairwell of an apartment complex grabbed headlines and drew some community leaders to express alarm over the incident.
In 2019, Johnson filed a notice of claim against the City of Mesa, and the city settled with Johnson in June for $350,000.
Johnson's attorneys originally sought $2 million.
Johnson, who was 33 at the time of his arrest, was accompanying a friend at the apartment to retrieve items from an ex-girlfriend.
Mesa police were dispatched for a domestic violence call. While officers were interrogating the men separately, Johnson did not immediately obey a command to sit down on the ground, instead learning with legs bent against a wall.
An investigation by the Scottsdale Police Department did not recommend charges for the officers involved, and a judge later dismissed charges of disorderly conduct brought against Johnson.
Miller brought security camera footage of the incident to then-chief Ramon Bautista, who went on TV to speak out to criticize the level of force soon after the video surfaced.
Bautista's criticism of the force was one of the actions that led to a no-confidence vote by the Mesa Police Association against Bautista in 2019. He resigned later that year.
Other six-figure settlements
The city settled three other lawsuits in the first half of 2022 for more than $100,000.
In June, the city agreed to pay $250,000 to the mother of Angel Benitez, who was shot by multiple officers in a vehicle at a Tempe apartment complex. Benitez had fled from Mesa officers after they attempted to contact him after discovering him asleep behind the wheel of a car reported stolen.
Officers claimed Benitez was reaching for his waistband when he was shot. No weapons were found in the vehicle.
In July, the city settled a case with Bernard Patton for $350,000. Patton's son Alex died in 2018 after being rushed to a local hospital from the city jail with extreme hypoglycemia. Alex lapsed into a diabetic coma and died.
Bernard Patton's suit claimed that officers at the jail were negligent for failing to recognize signs of hypoglycemia, waiting too long to provide medical treatment and repeatedly telling medics Alex was suffering the effects of drug intoxication, obscuring the real reasons for his physical distress.
In January 2022, the city reached a $175,000 settlement with James Brian Wright. Records on the incident leading to the suit which were not immediately available.
The remaining settlements were with Anthony Keith Johnson for $40,000, Lorenzo Jones for $25,000, Le for $50,000 and Daniel Garcia for $4,000.
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