SAN DIEGO CA.-Feb 5, 2016: |67 year-old Zack Smith, a homeless man who is living in Pacific Beach, and has filed a claim against the City of San Diego alleging harassment, pedaled his bicycle down an alley, away from the Public Library where there is a stay away order in place for him.| JOHN GIBBINS / San Diego Union-Tribune) San Diego Union-Tribune

A 67-year-old homeless man who has roamed the Pacific Beach area for decades claims he was targeted by San Diego police and jailed for almost three days by officers who told him while being arrested that his case would never go before a judge.

Zack Green, who has been on probation since a felony drug conviction in 2013, filed a claim against the city in December alleging that two officers abused their authority when they took him into custody in September for allegedly violating a stay-away order.

He said police failed to return his cellphone and dentures when he was released from jail without charges, and complained that Medi-Cal will not cover the $1,300 replacement cost for his missing teeth.

“I was hunted down and subjected to an ill-motivated and unjust arrest,” states the claim. “The officers intentionally violated my civil rights and are also wrongfully restricting my liberty. I am a senior citizen, African-American and homeless.”

The claim alleges that officers are permitted to lock up homeless people and other petty offenders for up to three days, knowing that no charges will be filed and their behavior will not be reviewed by a judge.

“The officers involved are able to do this because they have a pre-arrangement with the City Attorney’s Office so that no case is filed following the arrest,” it states.

The City Attorney’s Office said no such agreement exists.

“Our office has no policies or understandings on who to arrest and the process,” said Gerry Braun, a spokesman for City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. “That is covered by the law.”

Neither San Diego police nor the risk-management office at City Hall responded to questions about Green’s claim, which seeks in excess of $10,000. Speaking in general, police officials said officers treat every citizen with the same courtesy regardless of race or social status.

“If you’re a homeless person and you’ve got the right to walk around downtown, the Police Department is not going to contact you until one, you’ve broken the law and two, we get a call about your behavior,” said Lt. Charles Kaye. “Most often, we get there and our first thought is to see what kind of services they need.”

Green said he has been harassed by specific officers for several years, two members of a “Quality of Life” detail operated by the department’s Northern Division, responsible for policing neighborhoods from Torrey Pines to Mission Bay.

“I don’t know the nature of their job, maybe they just have bad personnel in those positions,” said Green, who has lived on the streets of Pacific Beach since 1988. “They are never accountable and never answer to anything. We have a couple of officers that are just running amok.”

According to the claim, Green was riding a bicycle about 8:30 on the morning of Sept. 14.

“The officers had been tracking me for several blocks, and I became concerned for my well-being,” he wrote in the claim.

Green confirmed that a stay-away order was imposed after he pleaded guilty to a 2013 drug charge. The order directs Green to keep his distance from the public library on Cass Street.

An unrelated misdemeanor case from 2014 resulted in an order to avoid unspecified portions of Bayside Lane and Bayside Walk, and an area between Gresham and Everts streets near Fanuel Street Park overlooking Sail Bay.

Green said he never stopped at the library or Fanuel Street Park, and the officers knew that.

“These guys out of nowhere pulled up beside me and he said ‘You’re going to jail’,” Green said. “The body-cam will show the rest.”

He spent nearly 72 hours in jail before being released without any charges being filed.

Attorney Richard Leslie lives in the area and has known Green for 15-plus years. He said Green is well-known in the community, doesn’t cause trouble and is simply trying to survive in a difficult situation.

Leslie said the department has a “Quality of Life” detail that amounts to little more than selectively enforcing various ordinances and probation orders.

“It’s like the citizens are separate from the homeless,” said Leslie, who now represents Green in his dispute with the city. “The policy, when it says quality of life, is clearly not about the quality of life of all citizens. It’s targeting the homeless population.”

The Quality of Life details are relatively new to the San Diego Police Department. Officials said the first was set up about five years ago.

Similar to the “broken window” theory of community policing first pioneered by New York City police Chief William Bratton, the idea is to address small offenses as they occur to prevent more serious crimes in the future.

San Diego police run four Quality of Life details department-wide, each of which adhere to policies and practices determined by the division commander, officials said.

“The focus is to address the criminal element that exists in the community,” said Lt. Wes Morris, who oversees the downtown area Quality of Life detail. “It’s not a lot different from the duties of other officers, but they address those areas where we have the highest concentration of crime.”

Morris said the first thing his officers do when they encounter homeless who are not doing anything illegal is offer them services.

“That’s preferable from a management standpoint and a staffing standpoint,” he said..

The claim filed by Green has yet to be rejected or approved. If rejected, Green could file his complaint in Superior Court.