A Hollister police officer is under investigation for allegedly
harassing a family by gunpoint early Monday morning. The alleged
incident will result in a lawsuit against the department, according
to family members.
Abram and Esther Lujan said their family of five awoke to a loud
commotion at about 1:30 a.m. Monday. Abram Lujan said he walked
outside his Park Street home where the officer was yelling
profanities and pointed his gun at Lujan and his daughter. Lujan
said the officer claimed to be looking for a prowler whom the
officer apparently saw run into the Lujan home.
A Hollister police officer is under investigation for allegedly harassing a family by gunpoint early Monday morning. The alleged incident will result in a lawsuit against the department, according to family members.
The Hollister Police Department is conducting an internal affairs investigation and, according to state law, cannot release any information about the officer, Police Chief Bill Pierpoint said.
Abram and Esther Lujan said their family of five awoke to a loud commotion at about 1:30 a.m. Monday. Abram Lujan said he walked outside his Park Street home where the officer was yelling profanities and pointed his gun at Lujan and his daughter. Lujan said the officer claimed to be looking for a prowler whom the officer apparently saw run into the Lujan home.
“Talk about being woke up with a gun in your face, literally,” Esther Lujan said.
Abram Lujan added, “I don’t know what was wrong with that guy. For a police officer, he was out of it. He said we were hiding someone.”
Lujan said the officer kicked down a side door and allegedly ran through bedrooms with a flashlight and eventually “confronted” Lujan’s sleeping 11-year-old granddaughter.
“He pointed a gun at my granddaughter,” Lujan said.
Lujan, who has a heart condition, said he approached the officer in an attempt to calm the situation.
“I told him, ‘Hey, you don’t use those kinds of words in my home.'”
Additional police officers arrived at the scene, according to family members and a neighbor, Carol Sanchez, who estimated seeing seven police cars.
“It was like gang busters,” Sanchez said. “Cop cars just kept coming, it was ridiculous.”
Sanchez confirmed that the officer kicked in the door and referred to his actions as “very unprofessional.” She said he was “screaming at the top of his lungs.”
Four or five other officers entered the house and calmly questioned the family, Lujan said.
Although the police department will not release information about the officer, Esther Lujan described him as being in his early 20s.
The HPD assigned a senior investigator from within the department to handle the case, and Pierpoint said he “can’t answer” whether there will be a criminal investigation. State law forbids the HPD from hiring an outside agency for internal affairs, according to Pierpoint.
Henry Sumaya of the local chapter of the Mexican American Political Association said the officer is 21 years old and “just a rookie.”
After the Lujans contacted Sumaya Monday, he talked to representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union about the possibility of filing a suit against the HPD and is awaiting word from the ACLU on whether it will take the case.
Regardless, Sumaya said, there will be a lawsuit. He also talked with the Rural Legal Assistance Association, which referred him to a San Jose-based attorney.
Sumaya made allegations that the incident was racially motivated. Family members did not take a stance on that issue.
“I don’t know (if it was racially motivated),” Esther Lujan said, “other than we’re Hispanic and he’s Anglo. It could be a possibility, who knows. He literally lost it, in my view, in my eyes.”
Sumaya said MAPA representatives met Tuesday night and planned a possible protest Sunday in which they will “demand the police chief be fired.” He cited “incompetence” on Pierpoint’s part for hiring an officer who Sumaya said was unfit for duty.
He said the rally would take place on the lawn at the corner of Fourth and San Benito streets, but no time has been scheduled.
“He (Sumaya) has a right to ask whatever he wants,” Pierpoint said.
Pierpoint said the HPD doesn’t “just grab an officer off the street,” and the department employs a clinical psychologist who evaluates all potential officers.
Sumaya also contacted City Manager Ed Kreins, who has an extensive background in law enforcement – including 13 years as police chief in three cities.
“I want to make sure there is a complete investigation,” Sumaya said.
Kreins has notified City Council members of the incident and said he asked Pierpoint to immediately begin the internal affairs investigation.
Kreins said “there’s no set time” for an internal affairs investigation, but he does not suspect it will last more than two weeks.
The HPD conducted seven internal affairs investigations in 2002. This is the second such investigation in 2003.
