Antioch police officer in racist texting scandal stands trial in federal case: Here's what happened
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- After a years-long FBI investigation into the Antioch police department uncovered a racist texting scandal, some of those officers finally took the stand in a federal trial in Oakland. One of the officers targeted in the texted scandal is now taking the stand as witness in the case after taking a plea deal in January.
"If we were to just take the common sense interpretation of the language used by the witness, we can conclude that he was being completely honest and above board," said San Jose State Criminal Justice Professor Greg Woods.
He is talking about former Officer Eric Rombough, who instead of standing trial, is serving as witness for the prosecution. He took a plea deal in January.
Rombough described how he and Officer Morteza Amiri knowingly used excessive force, falsified police reports and made sure their actions weren't caught on body cameras. Sometimes rewarding each with fancy dinners.
"Those racial epithets. Reducing those individuals whom they encountered to be targets for rubber bullets, to be incentivizes through the rewards of cookies and filet mignon," said Professor Woods.
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The defense tried to argue that some of the text messages were offensive, but they were cherry-picked. Or the meaning exaggerated, says Attorney Ben Nisenbaum.
He has a separate civil case against some of the same officers involved in the texting scandal.
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But he says Rombough's testimony disproves that.
"You have an officer saying, no these were not exaggerations. This was not locker room talk," said Attorney Nisenbaum. "That injects dose of reality that I think will be persuasive to every juror."
Also, last week a mistrial was declared for a second officer charged in the case.
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Nisembaum says the ruling of former Officer Devon Wenger's case came after his lawyer told the judge he couldn't provide effective representation allegedly due to a lack of resources.
"Officer Amiri agreed to continue his trial, to keep it going, on its own. And Officer Wenger's trial will be rescheduled later this year," said Nisenbaum.
"Well, it was all problematic. Having bullet shelves on your mantle. And saying those were your trophies, I think was disgusting," said former Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe, who was mayor when the texting scandal broke.
He says praised Officer Rombough for admitting remorse. But he says justice still needs to be served.
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"It takes a lot of courage to own up to your mistakes. And so, I was pleased to see that. I hope other officers learn from him. And then those who need to be held accountable, need to be held accountable for terrorizing this community," Hernandez-Thorpe said.
The trial continues in the coming days.
