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OC deputy who punched apparently drunk man under criminal investigation for undisclosed allegations
An Orange County sheriff’s deputy who was caught on video pummeling an apparently intoxicated man in August 2018 is under criminal investigation for undisclosed allegations, the Sheriff’s Department confirmed Thursday.
Sheriff spokeswoman Carrie Braun would not answer any other questions concerning Deputy Michael Devitt, a veteran of nearly eight years who is on administrative leave pending the internal investigation.
Meanwhile, prosecutors have dismissed four cases in which Devitt was involved and are dramatically reducing the charge against the man he punched, Mohamed Sayem, according a document filed by Sayem’s attorney. One of the dropped cases involved filing a false police report, said the document filed by Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders.
Sanders said a felony charge of resisting arrest by threat of violence against Sayem will be reduced to a misdemeanor. Sanders complained that prosecutors did not disclose the internal investigation against Devitt for six months.
“This has been long overdue. (Former) Sheriff Sandra Hutchens insisted he handled everything perfectly. He not only mishandled this case, but mishandled other situations in the past,” Sanders said.
Mohamed Zahangir Sayem was asleep in his truck, parked in an alley behind a Stanton bar, when he was contacted by Devitt and another deputy in the early morning hours of Aug. 19, 2018. In a drunken haze, Sayem was unable to answer Devitt, who asked for his driver’s license.
The video, taken by a police dash cam, shows the deputy allegedly pulling the 5-foot-11 man out of his vehicle and punching him until he collapsed. Sanders has alleged that Devitt beat Sayam and then conspired with other deputies to make it appear in the official report that Sayem, then 33, attacked him.
Deputy followed policy
Hutchens later released a video statement, saying she had viewed the dash cam recording and determined that Devitt followed policy and did nothing wrong. She said she stood by his actions.
“An appropriate use of force was utilized. … My deputy is not on trial, the suspect is on trial for assaulting a peace officer,” Hutchens said.
Devitt wrote in his official report that Sayem got out of the vehicle and grabbed the deputy’s vest.
“Due to his aggressive demeanor … I believed Sayem was going to continue to try and physically assault me,” Devitt reported.
Evidence handling scandal
Meanwhile, Sanders, in another part of his motion, accused the District Attorney’s Office of not investigating far enough into the systemic mishandling of evidence by the Sheriff’s Department. A two-year sheriff’s audit showed that deputies from 2016 to 2018 routinely booked evidence late and sometimes not at all. Sanders said 400 deputies had filed evidence late by 30 days or longer, but only 16 have been placed on a countywide list of problem officers called the Brady List and another 15 are being considered.
Kimberly Edds, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Todd Spitzer, responded by noting the actions taken by the office.
“The District Attorney’s Office has proactively dismissed 65 cases after the (sheriff’s) audit revealed the evidence had not been properly booked — and those dismissals were made on the district attorney’s own motion,” Edds said. “More than 3,600 letters were also sent to defense attorneys and defendants by the District Attorney’s Office notifying them of potential issues with evidence. To date, just a handful of requests were made by defense attorneys to dismiss charges.”
She added that the District Attorney’s Office also is removing any DNA samples collected in the local database in connection with cases in which evidence was not properly booked.