Video Shows Oakland Police Officer Spitting At Person, Recording Him In Action
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OAKLAND (CBS SF) — The Oakland Police Department is investigating one of its officers after a video posted to Facebook over the weekend shows him spitting at the person recording him.
The person who uploaded the video said in the caption the unidentified officer spat on his friend who was the one recording the video on Friday.
The video shows police officers appearing to question a group of people standing outside a car at a gas station.
When the camera swings over to the police officer, he appears to take something out of his mouth and throw it at the person recording, just before he spits at him.
Spitting on a person could be considered battery under California Penal Code 242.
“The Oakland Police Department immediately initiated an Internal Affairs Investigation when we were made aware of this incident,” said spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson Monday. “We pride ourselves on professionalism, respect for others, relationships and community trust building. We take this matter seriously and will conduct a thorough investigation.”
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The young men who shot the video say they stopped at this gas station Friday night to grab something to drink, not knowing there was a sideshow happening nearby.
That’s when they say an Oakland police officer started asking questions.
The men wanted only to be known by their first names. Josh and Johnny said the officer who approached them wanted to know about their cars.
“He started harrassing us giving us issues about my car, saying it was modified and basically just kind of giving us trouble,” Josh said.
That trouble escalated when Johnny says one of their friends called the officer a name.
He said, “you guys are pigs.”
The officer called back-up, and Josh and Johnny say before they knew it, they were surrounded. One officer was chewing sunflower seeds.
“He tried to throw a chewing seed at me and he missed and he spat one at me on my left side of the shoulder,” Johnny said.
“I was really surprised cause I felt like that was assault,” Johnny said.
Moments later, the officer can be heard saying “if I had another, I’d do it again.”
Josh says the harassment did not stop there.
“We didn’t say they could enter our vehicles. There was no reason for them to enter our vehicles at any point.”
And yet, Josh says one officer reached into his car.
“I just kept telling him, ‘I didn’t allow you to search the car, or I don’t feel comfortable with you doing that.'”
Carlos E. Castañeda is Senior Editor, News & Social Media for CBS San Francisco and a San Francisco native. You can follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
