Antioch California Police Department Racist Texts (2019-2022)

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Overview

The FBI and the county District Attorney investigated multiple Antioch California Police Department and Pittsburg California Police Department officers regarding "crimes of moral turpitude and criminal offenses". During that investigation, text messages were discovered that may have violated California's Racial Justice Act which, among other things, prevents the state from trying or sentencing a suspect if a law enforcement officer involved in the case "exhibited bias or animus towards the defendant because of the defendant's race, ethnicity, or national origin".[1]

On March 27, 2023, the District Attorney released a 21-page report about the text messages.[2]

On March 28, 2023, the District Attorney released a 14-page report documenting additional text messages.[3] 

The DA's report does not describe every text message they discovered.  We are not going to describe every one that they listed, but rather list a few for each officer to show possible patterns of treatment.  Please see the DA's reports for more details.
Sergeant Josh Evans
said he would "bury that n***** in my fields". Another officer said of Evans, "Josh isn't a racist..he just hates women". Evans asked if the media had described how he held a man's legs apart while another officer "was beating him around the anus".
Sergeant Rick Hoffman
texted his agreement that Sergeant Evans was a racist. Hoffman declared that he would "smash" his cell phone if anyone tried to seize it in an investigation. Hoffman received many of the other text messages.
Officer Jonathan Adams
said he "just talked to the f****t again and got him to agree to eat his own d**k". Adams said that Black people "all look the same".
Officer Morteza Amiri
used the phrases "thirsty n*****", "donkey n*****", "transient n*****", "panhandling n*****". Amiri referred to a group of people as a "bunch of gorillas". Amiri referred to George Floyd as "the gorilla who died".
Officer Scott Duggar
received many of the other text messages.
Detective Robert Gerber
sent a picture of a gorilla to another officer and referred to a suspect as "that fag".
Officer Aaron Hughes
texted "the circus is in town...but it seems they only brought monkeys".
Officer Brock Marcotte
recalled a story when a "nurse saw me smiling when [a suspect] was making noises in pain".
Officer Brayton Milner
received many of the other text messages.
Officer Calvin Prieto
in reply to another officer who said, "the world is just outta whack right now", Prieto replied, "I blame the blacks" who had "no sense of responsibility".
Officer John Ramirez
used the phrases "bended knee n*****", "ungrateful n*****", "jackass n*****", "dead n*****", "body bag n*****". Ramirez offered to buy a "prime rib dinner" for anyone who would deploy a 40mm less than lethal launcher against the Mayor.
Officer Andrea Rodriguez
described that the concept of Black people being responsible "would be asking way too much of them". Rodriguez described targeting Black drivers for traffic enforcement.
Officer Eric Rombough
planned to arrest people for "driving while black". Rombough sent pictures of gorillas in reference to multiple suspects. When once asked what he was doing, Rombough replied, "violating civil rights". In reply to a comment about there being a lot of Black people, Rombough said, "I feel like I'm at the zoo" and they probably had "chicken... watermelon and kool aid". Rombough felt that one incident "doesn't matter [as] some gorilla killed another gorilla". Rombough admitted to "only stopping them cuz they black". Rombough referred to a suspect as "this fag". Rombough described that a "faggot got his ass whooped" and that he had "field goal kicked his head", which he described as "nice after a boring swat op" and later complained that "my foot hurts lol" as the man's head "is like a bowling ball".
Officer Kyle Smith
described how "they let the k9 bite two n*****". Smith received many of the other text messages.
Officer Tom Smith
received many of the other text messages.
Officer Devon Wenger
described how one suspect "didn't get what he deserved" and that "we would have f***ked him up more" "if (the Pittsburg Police Department) didn't have all those body cams".
Officer Timothy Williams
commented on actions made by other officers.

Prosecutors have dropped or dismissed charges in dozens of cases involving these officers and are planning to review thousands more.[4]

Officers Involved


References

  1. ↑ Racial Justice Act, California Legislature
  2. ↑ Investigation Report, Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office, 2023-03-27
  3. ↑ Investigation Report, Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office, 2023-03-28
  4. ↑ Sam Levin, FBI arrest California police officers involved in racist text messages scandal, The Guardian, 2023-08-17