Alameda deputies charged with assault in beating in Mission alley

Two Alameda County Sheriff deputies are shown beating a man on a street in San Francisco's Mission District in a video screen grab provided by the San Francisco Public Defender's Office. Two Alameda County Sheriff deputies are shown beating a man on a street in San Francisco's Mission District in a video screen grab provided by the San Francisco Public Defender's Office. Photo: Coutesy Of San Francsco Public D Photo: Coutesy Of San Francsco Public D Image 1 of / 25 Caption Close Alameda deputies charged with assault in beating in Mission alley 1 / 25 Back to Gallery

Two Alameda County sheriff’s deputies who rained baton blows on a fleeing auto theft suspect in a Mission District alley in November were charged with assault with a deadly weapon, assault under color of authority and battery, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said Tuesday.

The decision to charge deputies Paul Wieber and Luis Santamaria with the felonies in the video-recorded pummeling of 29-year-old Stanislav Petrov marks a rare instance of Bay Area law enforcement officers facing criminal counts for line-of-duty conduct, even at a time of heightened police scrutiny.

The deputies were to surrender to an arrest warrant Wednesday and be held in lieu of $140,000 bail, prosecutors said. An arraignment date has not been set, and attorneys for both men did not return calls for comment.

“When the police violate the law, it impacts the work of every woman and man in uniform,” said Gascón, who announced the charges at a news conference at the Hall of Justice.

Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern said Wieber and Santamaria remain on paid leave. With the criminal probe completed, he said, the department’s internal affairs division can move quickly to finish its disciplinary investigation.

“I know both deputies very well, and they have outstanding work history,” Ahern said. “They are both very good, hardworking employees, and this is a bad event for them. They’re going to have to explain each and every strike, each and every word they wrote (in their reports) and all their actions.”

Petrov’s mother, Olga Petrov, said in an interview that the charges did not go far enough, that the deputies and others should be held responsible for trying to minimize or cover up the beating before the video footage emerged.

An attorney for Petrov previously raised questions about why the deputies were allowed to alter their original reports on the incident after they and their attorneys viewed the surveillance video. A third deputy, Shawn Osborne, was placed on paid leave after allegations emerged that he stole a gold chain and money from Petrov after the beating and gave the items to a homeless couple who had witnessed the incident.

“It’s just a mockery,” Olga Petrov said of the charges.

Investigation ongoing

Gascón said that the investigation into the beating continues, with the city’s multiagency Public Corruption Task Force looking into “additional allegations related to false police statements, theft, bribery, witness tampering, and/or other wrongdoing related to this case.”

The beating gained national attention when the video of the Nov. 12 incident was released by San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi. The footage shows Wieber and Santamaria knocking Petrov to the ground, punching him and clubbing him with their batons, even after he appeared to surrender with his hands on his head.

“Mr. Petrov slowed down and began to put his hands in the air just before Deputy Wieber tackled him,” prosecutors said in a written statement. “The two deputies then started to strike Mr. Petrov with their retractable service batons.”

Two videos captured the deputies swinging on Petrov “over the course of 40 seconds, striking him at least 30 times,” prosecutors wrote. “During the beating, Mr. Petrov is heard crying out and saying, ‘I’m sorry,’ ‘Help me,’ and ‘Oh my God.’ The deputies stopped striking Mr. Petrov when other peace officers from multiple law enforcement agencies arrived.”

Petrov suffered a concussion with a mild brain injury, deep head cuts and multiple broken bones in both hands, authorities said. Surgeons had to insert plates, screws and pins into his hands to repair them.

The charges against Wieber and Santamaria include additional allegations — that each of them inflicted great bodily injury on Petrov, and used a dangerous or deadly weapon — that could increase their sentences if they are convicted.

Officials said the beating occurred after deputies spotted Petrov in a stolen car and chased him from Castro Valley over the Bay Bridge and into San Francisco. Petrov allegedly ran red lights and drove the wrong way down one-way streets before running out of gas and crashing. The deputies said in reports that Petrov had rammed two patrol cars — one unidentified deputy suffered minor injuries — and that they feared he was armed, intoxicated and dangerous.

Wieber, a three-year department veteran, and Santamaria, who has been with the agency for 14 years, were put on paid leave following the release of the video. The third deputy, Osborne, was placed on leave after the theft and bribery allegations emerged.

An attorney for Osborne has denied the allegations, but Adachi said last month he believed that enhanced video showed Osborne twirling a gold chain after Petrov had been taken away by an ambulance.

Adachi, who felt the district attorney took too long to decide on charges, said he made the video public after one of his former students contacted him about it.

‘We are satisfied’

“Certainly there could have been other charges filed, but I would say, yes, we are satisfied that the major charges were filed,” Adachi said Tuesday. “These are felony assault charges, and there’s also a great bodily injury allegation, so that certainly comports with the conduct that is shown on the video.”

Petrov was not charged with any crimes related to the car chase into San Francisco, but he is currently in custody in a Marin County jail on federal gun and drug charges. His mother said he became “uncontrollable” after the beating due to post-traumatic stress.

Gascón made a point Tuesday to say that any criminal allegations against Petrov had no bearing on the beating case.

“This is a case about police officers acting beyond the authority of the law,” he said. “This is a case about police officers violating the Constitution. This is a case about use of force. It is completely disconnected with any behavior that is being alleged now or in the future against Mr. Petrov.”

Attorneys for Petrov filed a claim last month against the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office — a precursor to a lawsuit — alleging among other things that deputies took “trophy photos” of Petrov as he lay bleeding on the ground.

Ahern said that in the months since the beating, his office has taken strides to improve training and policies, including how deputies are scrutinized after using force and how they deploy body cameras.

Each of the deputies in the Mission District alley failed to activate body cameras — though turning them on was optional under department rules at the time. Investigators later learned that Wieber accidentally switched on his camera, producing a second video of the beating that has not been released.

Previous cases

The last time an Alameda County sheriff’s deputy was charged with excessive force was 1969, Ahern said, during the Berkeley riots.

“We’re moving on forward to make sure we’re doing better,” he said.

Ahern doesn’t believe any charges will arise from the deputies’ filing of reports in the case, saying, “There was no cover-up.”

Under Gascón, city prosecutors have filed charges of assault under the color of authority twice before.

City sheriff’s Deputy Michael Lewelling was convicted of beating a homeless and disabled man at San Francisco General Hospital and was sentenced in January to three years of probation. In March, prosecutors charged three San Francisco sheriff’s deputies for their alleged roles in running a jailhouse “fight club,” forcing inmates to brawl each other for their entertainment.

Adachi said it was important for Gascón to send a strong message in cases of police abuse.

“This is a very, very serious situation in the sense that this is a national story that sends a message to law enforcement everywhere as to what’s going to be tolerated,” Adachi said. “Until today, there has really been no accountability.”

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @VivianHo