What is the City of Santa Ana hiding?
On August 2 of 2023, Santa Ana police officers responded to a 911 call regarding a fistfight between Councilman Johnathan Hernandez and his former council aide Vernon Carter (and Carter’s friend Danilo Delvalle).
Carter and Delvalle had gone to Hernandez”s mother’s house (where he lives) to confront him; Carter believed the city still owed him money for work as a council aide. Carter and Delvalle were each arrested on charges of misdemeanor assault and battery.
READ: Santa Ana Councilman Johnathan Hernandez Assaulted By Disgruntled Former Aide
Several police officers arrived to deal with the fracas that moved back and forth between the sidewalk and Raitt Street – meaning there are several Body Worn Cameras (BWC) recording
OC Independent has filed California Public Record Act requests for BWC footage from the incident. Actually, we have requested the footage on three different occasions in the past year – most recently last month.
Each time, the City of Santa Ana has refused to provide the BWC footage.
On July 29, 2023, a few days before the Hernandez-Carter fistfight, Alfonso Alvarez – a member of the Santa Ana Unified School District Board of Education – was arrested for drunk driving by the Santa Ana police.
READ: Santa Ana School Board Member Alfonso Alvarez Arrested For Drunk Driving
On August 3, OC Independent filed a request for the BWC footage from the arrest.
On August 8, the city denied the request: “The body worn camera footage, call audio, and blood alcohol content information are being withheld as investigative information pursuant to Government Code 7923.600(a).”
Alvarez plead guilty in December 2023 and was sentenced to three years probation, 6 days of community service, 9 months of alcohol counseling and $140 in fines.
In other words, the case was adjudicated and the investigation closed.
On August 15 of this year, we submitted another PRA request for the BWC footage. Again, the city refused to release the footage, this time citing a different reason: “Police reports and associated evidence including body worn camera footage are not subject to public release pursuant to Government Code 7923.600(a).”
Translation: sure, we could release the footage. But we’re not going to.
There is no law prohibiting the city from doing so. Many other police departments routinely release bodycam footage.
The Miami-Dade police released bodycam footage of Tyreek Hill’s arrest the next day. When state Senator Dave Min was arrested in May of last year for drunk driving, the California Highway Patrol released the arrest video three weeks later.
The City of Santa Ana simply doesn’t want to release it.
Why the stonewalling?
It’s been more than a year since the arrest of Carter and Delvalle for assaulting Hernandez. Carter reportedly has moved out of state. A search of OCCourts.org turns up no evidence that authorities are pursuing assault and battery charges against either Carter or Delvalle.
When about the Carter/Delvalle case, OCDA spokesperson Kimberly Edds replied cryptically via text, “We do not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.”
It’s been more than a year since Alvarez was arrested for DUI, and his case has been completely adjudicated.
Besides being political progressives who part of – or allied with – the left-wing clique that controls the Santa Ana City Council, both Hernandez and Alvarez are running for re-election.
Keep in mind that former Santa Ana Police Chief Dave Valentin launched an “Open Government and Transparency Initiative” back in 2018. It’s right here on the city’s website. And here. Maybe there’s an exemption for progressive politicians?
According to the council-approved Strategic Plan, on of the city’s official “Guiding Principles” is transparency – “We provide information openly and hold ourselves accountable to the public regarding our actions and decisions” – as shown in these official city reports:
We hope shielding Hernandez and Alvarez from the political fallout of these incidents is not a factor in the city’s baffling decision to withhold public information about Santa Ana public officials from members of the Santa Ana public.
But the city’s refusal to release the bodycam footage certainly conveys that impression. And given the public’s deep suspicion of governmental integrity in these polarized times, Santa Ana residents can hardly be blamed for concluding that is the case.
According to Susan Seager, a law professor at UCI Law School and leader of its Press Freedom Project, BWC footage becomes public evidence in a public trial and can be requested from prosecutors, who are also subject to the California Public Records Act.
And so we will be submitting such a request to the OC District Attorney’s Office. In the case of Alvarez, at least, there can be no legitimate reason to deny the request.
Of course, the City of Sana Ana could also just do the right thing, the transparent thing, and comply with our requests for the BVC footage in both cases.
