Advertisement Videos released following acquittal of Rocklin officer Officer acquitted of use of force following 2017 DUI arrest Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A month after a Rocklin police officer was acquitted of using excessive force against a DUI suspect, a judge approved the release of five videos used as evidence in the trial, the Placer County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday.Brad Alford was charged with assault in connection with the arrest of DUI suspect Emelio Perez-Chavez on Sept. 25, 2017, the DA’s office said. Alford was acquitted on all charges on May 15.The five videos released Wednesday were unsealed after the DA’s office filed a request to release the videos to comply with media requests. Alford’s attorney objected to the release of the videos, the DA’s office said. The released videos are from two police vehicle dashcams, two body cameras and one cellphone. The videos can be viewed here. WARNING: The videos may be graphic for some.Rocklin police began investigating Alford after Perez-Chavez’s arrest in 2017. Police said during the arrest, Alford “used a baton in a manner that appeared to be excessive.” The officer’s actions were later reported to the police department by fellow officers who were also working the arrest. Investigators reviewed video footage and then “immediately” reached out to the Placer County District Attorney’s Office to conduct an independent review.Days after the incident, the district attorney’s office determined that Alford’s actions “rose to a criminal level” and decided to press charges against the officer.In a statement Wednesday, the DA’s office said videos of the arrest led prosecutors to press charges against Alford.“While our office disagrees with the outcome, we respect the Jury’s verdict,” the DA’s office said in a statement. “We also understand that proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a high burden to meet. Our office does, however, stand by our investigation and continues to believe that the prosecution in the case was appropriate given the video evidence that was presented to the Jury.”Alford’s trial lasted two weeks, his attorney Mike Rains said in a statement last month. Rains said the jury took more than two hours to acquit Alford.“This is a case where 22 seconds of graphic video of use of force resulted in a grotesque overreaction by the officer’s employing agency and the Placer County District Attorney,” Rains said in the May statement. “There was an inexplicable rush to file felony criminal charges within two days of the incident and without any meaningful or objective review of the video evidence or the clearly articulated perceptions of Officer. Alford. Nor were the corroborating perceptions and beliefs of the other officers on scene and bystanders who witnessed the event considered by the District Attorney.”KCRA 3 reached out to Alford's attorney for a comment on the video release.