Mesa Police officers are questioning the actions of Chief Ramon Batista after a review by the Scottsdale Police Department found that Mesa officers were legally justified in their use of force in May.
At issue was the use of force by Mesa officers in the arrest of 33-year-old Robert Johnson.
The Mesa Police Association issued a statement calling the Chief’s earlier condemnation of the officers’ actions “irresponsible and premature.” They called for a public apology from the Chief.
Scottsdale Police officials released a statement on the independent criminal investigation they conducted of the incident. Investigators determined that no criminal charges are warranted against the involved officers after reviewing body camera videos, the apartment complex surveillance video, and interviewing 15 people.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office concurred with the findings.
The Mesa Police Association thanked Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and his staff for “recognizing that these incidents did not rise to criminal charging. This swift and timely decision is a clear message that they were not interested in playing games with these officers’ careers and lives simply because it looked ugly on video. This was no surprise since our highly experienced and respected investigators previously concluded there was no criminal misconduct.”
A video showed Mesa Police officers punching Johnson as he stood against an apartment complex’s wall while appearing to taunt officers on May 23. Mesa Police reports note that Johnson was “verbally defiant and confrontational.”
Johnson’s attorney has argued that there was no reason for officers to attack his client.
“Chief Batista ignored advice from his own Internal Affairs Division, as well as recommendations from the elite Homicide Unit within the Mesa Police Department,” when he condemned the officers, claimed the Association.