“An Orange County judge has thrown out a case against three men – including one who faced 25 years to life in prison for robbery – after a Fullerton police video that could have shown what happened was deleted,” according to the O.C. Register.
The official Fullerton Police News blog did not mention this story anywhere on their blog. And the Fullerton Police Department’s website also fails to mention this case although it does have an article about Fullerton Police being cleared in another lawsuit. Finally, the Fullerton Police Department’s Facebook page also doesn’t mention this case, but they do note that this week is National Police Week.
Maybe that is because Superior Court Judge Steven Bromberg characterized Fullerton police work as “sloppy” and “disturbing.”
“I understand Fullerton has been going through some issues,” Bromberg said in his decision. “Notwithstanding that, I’m finding that the level at this point of the police work is disturbing.”
This case came after the arrest of Michael Cisneros, Daniel Alvarez and Juan Renteria, in Downtown Fullerton, on suspicion of stealing a gold chain in October 2012 in an alley where the city’s surveillance cameras are trained. The video was requested, Bromber said, “but somebody at the police department, most likely, dropped the ball.”
Kudos to Fred Fascenelli, Cisneros’ defense attorney. He certainly didn’t drop the ball!