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Vallejo police said Thursday that they are investigating the complaints of a Marine veteran who said he was assaulted by an officer for simply using his cell phone to record the police officer detaining the man’s cousin in his driveway.
The incident occurred Jan. 22 at the home of Adrian Burrell, 28, who uploaded a video that captures much of the exchange and the alleged assault. Burrell said he suffered a concussion in the incident, and he has hired an attorney who plans to file a formal complaint with the Vallejo Police Department.
Vallejo police said in a statement that officials learned of the cell phone video on Thursday, more than a week after the incident. The video has been shared more than 1,000 times on Facebook.
“After viewing the video, Chief Andrew Bidou ordered an internal affairs investigation of the incident even though we have not received any citizen’s complain regarding the traffic stop,” the statement reads. “Chief Bidou has ordered that this investigation be conducted in an expeditious manner.”
Police officials said investigators will review footage captured on the officer’s body camera.
“Upon completion of the investigation, Chief Bidou will thoroughly review all of the facts and make the final determination,” the statement reads.
It is unknown if the officer is on administrative leave while officials investigate.
The video begins with Burrell standing on his porch, just after his cousin has pulled into the driveway on a motorcycle and a Vallejo police officer has parked his patrol SUV behind him. The officer gets out of his vehicle and approaches Burrell’s cousin while holding his firearm near his waist, pointed down.
Burrell said he later learned the officer had pursued his cousin because he thought his cousin was the same motorcyclist reported speeding earlier in the day.
In the video, the officer first says to Burrell’s cousin, “Why are you taking off like that, man?” He then turns his attention to Burrell, still on his porch. “Get back. Get back,” the officer says.
In an interview Thursday, Burrell told The Chronicle that his back was pressed up against the side of his house when the officer told him to “get back.” More than 20 feet separated Burrell and the officer, and there was the porch railing between them, he said.
“No. Nope,” Burrell says to the officer in the video, refusing to retreat inside his home.
The officer tells Burrell he is “interfering with me, my man,” and that he will put him in the back of his patrol vehicle. Burrell’s cousin, still sitting on the motorcycle, is holding both his hands in the air.
The officer walks up the driveway and up the porch stairs to handcuff Burrell, and though the images on the video are blurry, their voices are still clear.
“Stop resisting,” the officer says. “Stop fighting or you’re going to go on the ground.”
Burrell says at least three times that he is not resisting or fighting back.
As more blurred images fill the screen, there are muffled sounds of movement. Dogs bark in the background. The officer says, “That wasn’t very smart, man. Now you get to go to jail.”
Burrell said he suffered a concussion from his head hitting the wooden pillar on his porch. He said he sat in the back of the patrol car for about 45 minutes while the officer detained his cousin. A second officer arrived soon after.
“The cuffs broke my skin. My fingers were numb. My vision blurred in my right eye,” Burrell said. “I was thinking to myself, ‘Why did he just do this to me? If I do anything right now, besides complying with this brutality, I will die.’”
Burrell said he was let go when the officer learned that he had served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2008 to 2012. He said the officer thanked him for his service. His cousin was given a traffic citation and also released.
“I felt helpless. I felt violated,” Burrell said. “I felt like someone had taken away my humanity, even if it was just for 45 minutes.”
John Burris, Burrell’s lawyer, told The Chronicle on Thursday that he is preparing to file a formal complaint against the officer and the police department.
“This is a classic example of an overreaching police officer seeking to control a person just because he’s a police officer,” Burris said. Burrell “did what we are all taught to do: If you see police doing something, take out your phone and videotape, but don’t interfere. He did not leave his porch.”
Burrell said he is struggling to understand the officer’s “justification” in his detainment. Both Burrell and Burris stopped short of saying that race played a factor in the officer’s decision to detain Burrell — who is black — but Burrell said he wants to have a dialogue with the officer and Bidou.
“I want to ask him, ‘What is your justification?’ I want to hear it out of his mouth,” Burrell said. “Moving forward, if it turns out there is fault against him, then yes, I want accountability. It’s important that we hold people accountable.”
In the meantime, Burrell, a filmmaker who has a bachelor’s degree from the San Francisco Art Institute, said he’s focused on applying for graduate school to pursue a masters of fine arts at either UC Berkeley or Stanford University.
Vallejo police have not identified the officer, but his nameplate can be seen clearly in the cell phone video: “D. McLaughlin.” An Officer David McLaughlin was introduced as a new hire to the Vallejo Police Department in a Vallejo city manager’s report in May 2014.
McLaughlin graduated from the Alameda County Sheriff Department’s Police Academy in 2010, according to a City of Vallejo report from May 2014. He served as a patrolman for the Oakland Police Department for more than two years before joining the Vallejo Police Department in 2014, the report said.
He was one of five officers who shot and killed Jeffrey Barboa in August 2017 after a police pursuit that ended in Richmond, according to Bay City News. Barboa had a machete in his hand when McLaughlin and four other officers opened fire on him.
A jury found in March 2018 that Barboa died by suicide when officers shot and killed him.
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