STOCKTON, Calif. — Black Lives Matter Manteca first shared a video with ABC10 back in February 2021 of a police encounter in Stockton.
They say a young father was violently detained and charged with resisting arrest and hit and run. It allegedly happened after his car was hit by a Stockton Police officer's patrol car.
“It was all the police officer’s fault that any of this has happened," said John Burris, a Civil Rights Attorney. "So from our point of view it is really trying to right a wrong that has taken place.”
Almost a year later, Burris says the charges have been dropped.
“And as a consequence of that there are no criminal charges pending," Burris said. "We are now in the process of preparing the civil rights lawsuit alleging that excessive force was used. That false statements were made about him claiming that he was involved in a hit and run when that clearly was not the case.”
Christopher Dean with the Burris law firm says the family had their 3-year-old daughter in the back seat.
“And I was particularly drawn to this situation in particular because the daughter was in the car, and this could have been handled differently," Dean said.
Stockton police released this information at the time saying they attempted to detain a male driver walking away from the accident when a female passenger struck the officer on the hand and attempted to pull the officer away. The two were charged with resisting arrest, but again new tonight the family attorney says all charges have been dropped..
“We were going to take this case regardless of what the DA decided to do because we felt that what happened was wrong,” Burris said.
Stockton Police had no comment on the charges being dropped saying due to pending litigation we cannot discuss this matter any further.
