SAN FRANCISCO -- In newly released documents, Alameda County sheriff's deputies detail what led them to chase a suspect from Castro Valley to San Francisco, and then beat him with batons dozens of times until he was moaning in pain from lacerations to his head and broken bones in his hands.

Deputies Luis Santamaria and Paul Wieber describe their worry that 29-year-old Stanislav Petrov might have been leading them into an ambush as he took off on foot through a Mission District ally after fleeing his stolen, white Mercedes.

Both deputies chronicled an epic struggle with Petrov, who they said vigorously resisted and grabbed for his waistband as if he had a gun.

Stanislav Petrov. (Courtesy of Olga Petrova) (Olga Petrova)

"Petrov refused to surrender and I feared Deputy Santamaria and I were starting to fatigue," Wieber wrote. "I was worried we would be unable to successfully apprehend Petrov or defend ourselves from an attack."

Officer Darrin Shelton wrote in his statement that Petrov was grunting, agitated and bleeding when Shelton arrived on scene.

"I placed my right foot on Petrov's left shoulder blade in an attempt to prevent him from spitting blood," Shelton wrote, noting that Petrov spit blood on his pants and boots.

There were 11 deputies involved in the November incident, but none one of them opted to turn on their body cameras.

The beating instead was captured on a surveillance camera, leading San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon to consider whether to charge the deputies.


Santamaria and Wieber, the first two officers to catch up to Petrov and tackle him to the ground, can be seen on the video repeatedly beating Petrov with their batons, and there is little evidence of the struggle they describe. However, the video's time stamps appear to indicate that there are gaps within the footage.

The statements from Wieber and Santamaria were written after the video was released, as were the majority of the statements by deputies.

The reports were obtained through public records requests by Mike Katz-Lacabe, an activist who often posts records online related to law enforcement issues such as license plate readers and cellphone monitoring.

The incident with Petrov began about 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 12, when officers attempted to stop a stolen, white Mercedes at a Castro Valley hotel.

Petrov, who has been arrested 19 times since 2003, had other ideas.

According to the report, he rammed two patrol cars and then took off.

The car chase hit speeds of over 100 mph, and deputies said they were blown away by Petrov's ability to precisely maneuver his vehicle at such high speeds.

"I noticed Petrov displaying driving skills and techniques that are taught to us in the police academy and during service training," Santamaria wrote.

After they arrested Petrov, deputies found a stolen .45-caliber Ruger with five bullets inside the car. Petrov was also in possession of 13.4 grams of methamphetamine and more than $450 dollars. He had numerous outstanding warrants.

Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said that it is optional for deputies to turn on their body cameras. That policy, according to Kelly, has existed since deputies were first issued body cameras in 2009 but will soon change.

"We've done a review of our body camera policy through a comprehensive study, and we realized we need to go to a mandatory, full-time policy," Kelly said.

Kelly said that both Santamaria and Wieber are on paid leave pending the completion of investigations by the Sheriff's Office and the San Francisco District Attorneys' Office.

Olga Petrov, Stanislav Petrov's mother, said her son suffered severe injuries during the beating.

"My son is extremely depressed, and he's so haunted that it's very hard for him to talk," she said.

In past court filings, Petrov's attorney had described him as having " a documented history of psychological and mental health issues which stemmed from various childhood traumas experienced during childhood in Ukraine."

Olga Petrov said she didn't think the deputies involved in the incident would face serious consequences.

"Worst case scenario they will lose their professions, nothing more -- even despite all of our feelings, despite the video, despite the destruction of hands, despite the fact that he was lying in a pool of his blood," she said.

Contact Dan Lawton at 408-921-8695. Follow him at Twitter.com/dlawton.

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