The San Benito County Sheriff’s deputy facing felony battery
charges in Orange County, along with a civil rights lawsuit for
alleged police brutality locally, was recently allowed to retire
from the department citing medical reasons, according to the
sheriff.
Hollister – The San Benito County Sheriff’s deputy facing felony battery charges in Orange County, along with a civil rights lawsuit for alleged police brutality locally, was recently allowed to retire from the department citing medical reasons, according to the sheriff.
Former deputy David Hackman, who had been on paid medical leave with the department for more than a year, officially retired from the department last Tuesday and will be allowed to keep a portion of his pension, said Sheriff Curtis Hill. Hackman has since obtained employment in the private sector, but Hill declined to say where.
“The bottom line for the citizens of San Benito County is that he no longer works for San Benito County,” Hill said. “He’s moved on, and my understanding is the court issue in Southern California is up in the air.”
Hackman’s court issue in Orange County involves a felony battery charge stemming from an alleged attack on a man at a Boston Red Sox/Anaheim Angels baseball playoff game in Anaheim last October. Hackman was off-duty when he allegedly pulled the man down a flight of stairs after the man bopped him on the head with a plastic noisemaker, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s office. The attack left the man with a fractured skull and two fractured vertebrae.
Hill initiated an internal investigation into Hackman conduct, and while he said he planned to decide Hackman’s fate with the department months ago, he chose to wait until the legal situation in Orange County played out.
“I didn’t know the full details going on with the court. In the meantime this retirement thing evolved,” Hill said. “The county realized he had medical issues that would not permit him to return to our work force. I don’t have people for permanent light duty, so I push that stuff hard for people to get that decision done. I’m glad to be able to fill the position.”
If Hackman was terminated, he would have lost his pension. Retiring out allows him to keep a portion of it, although Hill didn’t know what percentage he’ll be eligible for.
While Hackman’s attorney, Ron Brower, did not return phone calls Friday, he has said that Hackman was simply acting in self-defense after the man, Daniel Slama, hit him on the head with the noisemaker. Hackman pleaded not guilty to the charge, and a trial date will be set in Orange County on Aug. 26, according to Orange County District Attorney Michael Pear.
But the felony assault charge isn’t the extent of Hackman’s legal troubles. He, along with Hill and the county, were hit with a civil rights lawsuit by a 71-year-old Hollister resident in December claiming Hackman and another deputy excessively beat the man during an arrest in April 2004.
Jose Jimenez claims Hackman and Deputy David Zander kicked and beat him with a flashlight, breaking his ribs then booking him in the county jail without taking him to the hospital, according to his lawsuit.
Jimenez’s attorney, Bill Marder, said the suit is making its way through Federal Court in San Jose and believes it could land his client with a six-figure settlement. Marder heads back to court on August 16 in an attempt to obtain records of Hackman’s previous employment with the Hollister and Riverside police departments, where he was employed before being hired by in San Benito County.
Hackman was hired at the Hollister Police Department in 2000, but left for the sheriff’s department a year later, according to county and city personnel.
While he was an officer with the Riverside Police Department, which he left in May 2000, he was ensnared in a controversy surrounding the highly-publicized shooting of a Riverside woman in 1999.
According to a report by CNN.com, Hackman was suspended from duty after making a racist remark at the scene following the shooting of 19-year-old Tyisha Miller.
“It’s our contention that the county was on notice that he had all these problems,” Marder said. “And because of that they shouldn’t have hired him.”
Marder also questioned Hill’s reticence in taking action on the deputy.
“It sends a bad message that the sheriff is not admitting that what he did was wrong,” Marder said. “He needs to take some action to let the public know they’re not going to tolerate excessive force. It seems like they’re brushing it under the rug.”
Hill has stood by Hackman’s performance at the department the entire time.
“I was called (by Hackman’s current employer) and they asked me what kind of a job he did and I told them he was a good deputy when he worked here,” Hill said. “But I also said, ‘Are you aware of the other issues,’ and they said, ‘Yes, we’re aware.'”
While Hackman’s legal battles could remain in the court system for months, Hill suggested that his retirement could affect the criminal charge in Orange County.
“It could be something attorneys look at and say, we have these allegations, but he is no longer a police officer. Police officers have to be held to a higher standard,” he said. “That may change people’s viewpoints in Orange County.”
The viewpoint Daniel Slama’s mother, Susan, has of Hackman will never change.
“I think the average person would look at these three incidents in the course of a ‘career’ spanning less than ten years and conclude that we might have a bully on our hands,” she said via e-mail. “But instead it seems to add up to three strikes and you get a pension.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
