SANTA ANA – A superior court judge granted a temporary restraining order Tuesday forcing Santa Ana to briefly reinstate a police officer involved in a controversial marijuana dispensary raid, tipping the case in the officer’s favor.

Santa Ana police Officer Brandon Sontag’s attorney, Corey Glave, filed the temporary restraining order in Orange County Superior Court on Monday, while the City Council’s appeal of its personnel board’s earlier decision to reinstate Sontag was pending.

Sontag, one of three Santa Ana police officers who raided Sky High Holistic in May 2015 and were caught on video eating snacks, was fired by Chief Carlos Rojas effective May 6, 2016. The city’s personnel board, however, heard Sontag’s appeal in November and on a 5-2 vote ruled that was not the appropriate remedy, but rather he should have been suspended and reassigned.

City Council members on a 4-3 vote last month appealed the personnel board’s decision, but the temporary restraining order granted by Judge James Crandall on Tuesday obligates the city to reinstate Sontag immediately and pay him back salary and benefits as if he had not been discharged.

“Based on the record before the Court, the Court finds that Plaintiff is likely to prevail on the merits of his claims, and/or the balance of hardship tips in his favor and/or Plaintiff would be likely to suffer irreparable injury, absent an ex parte temporary restraining order, and the requested relief serves the public interest and legislative intent related to the relevant statutes,” the court’s order states.

The order remains in effect until a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for March 30, after which the court could affirm the temporary restraining order by granting a preliminary injunction, or deny the motion.

Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said the city’s policy is not to comment on personnel matters. “However, please rest assured that we will comply with the court’s lawful order,” he said.

Sontag and fellow officers Nicole Lynn Quijas and Jorge Arroyo were captured in a surveillance video, released by the pot dispensary’s lawyer, ordering customers and employees to the ground, and two of the officers made demeaning remarks about an amputee in a wheelchair who was volunteering at the shop.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office in March 2016 filed charges of petty theft against the trio, and Sontag was also accused of vandalism for allegedly breaking some of the dispensary’s surveillance cameras. Prosecutors said there was no evidence the snacks the officers consumed contained any drugs.

Glave, an attorney for the Santa Ana Police Officers Association who sued the city on behalf of Sontag in February, said his client’s case was headed toward settlement until council members voted to appeal.

“So now they’re spending public funds to win a case they can’t win,” Glave said. “The city can engage in settlement talks whenever they want – we’re willing to listen.”

Councilman Jose Solorio, who along with Mayor Miguel Pulido and Councilman Juan Villegas voted against appealing, said City Attorney Sonia Carvalho had all along advised that the city’s likelihood of victory via the court was very low.

“For me and some of my colleagues, we don’t question that there was misconduct and that there’s a need for some major discipline,” Solorio said. “But the reality is that the whole discipline process was botched by the police department leadership and has put the city in a very bad situation, especially in terms of financial liability.”

Solorio called the city’s case “unwinnable” and said council members should consider “another settlement that is fair to the city but that also makes it very clear that there was conduct unbecoming of an officer.”

In an email to council members, Carvalho said the cases of Quijas, whose last day on the force was May 6, and Arroyo, relieved on April 20, are on Tuesday’s closed session agenda. Both officers appealed their terminations to the personnel board. Arroyo’s closed hearing was scheduled to begin March 2 and run through May 2; Quijas’ is slated May 16 through June 1.

The preliminary injunction hearing around Sontag’s case will take place 1:30 p.m. on March 30 in Department C33 of the superior court.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7762 or jkwong@ocregister.com or on Twitter: @JessicaGKwong