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| | Above the Law, but not Liability By Robert Warne - February 24, 2003The City of Oakland seems to have started off 2003 on the wrong foot. First, visions of glory and bragging rights to being the home of the current Superbowl champs were crushed by Tampa Bay. Then just this month the public learned that another team in the city, the Oakland Riders, posted a record liability loss, which would cost the city $10.5 million to settle 119 claims.
The Riders, a band of above the law Oakland Police officers, were hailed heroes at one time down at the station. They were described as model officers with a stranglehold on the City’s drug trade. These guys owned the streets of West Oakland and were held up to the rookies as model cops who would always get their man.
One rookie though in particular saw through the smoke screen surrounding these officers. Keith Batt broke open the case when fresh out of the academy, 10 days into the job he resigned. He reported that what he saw in that short period of time should have been obvious to supervisors.
Riders members, Clarence Mabanag, Jude Siapno, Matthew Hornung and Francisco Vazquez were all accused of kidnapping, beating and planting drugs on the 119 claimants during the summer of 2000.
The defense tried to no avail to paint Batt as a choirboy that should have never been sent to the front lines of West Oakland’s deadly drug war.
U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson approved the settlement Jan. 22, but the details weren’t released until late Feb 19.
Also included in the settlement is a series of reforms on the 700-officer Oakland Police Department.
The settlement is viewed by some city officials as a bargain basement deal compared to the estimated $42 million Los Angeles is on the hook for to settle just 96 of about 190 Rampart LAPD claims.
Bargain basement or not, the $10.5 million is a lopsided liability record loss for the city, which easily cleared its previous record of $2.75 million set in 2001.
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