Warning – This video contains profanity
A former Palo Alto police sergeant who was placed on administrative leave earlier this year after he was captured on video striking a gay man suspected of driving on a suspended license has retired, according to state officials.
Faced with a federal lawsuit and intense public scrutiny, former Sgt. Wayne Benitez retired from the department on Sept. 30 and began collecting a monthly pension of $9,866 — earning him an annual retirement package of about $118,600, according to Amy Morgan, information officer for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
Benitez joined the city’s police department in 2000 and previously served as union president of the Peace Officers Association.
In April, attorneys representing Palo Alto resident Gustavo Alvarez filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, which is still ongoing, against Palo Alto, its police department and six of its employees, including Officer Christopher Conde, Officer Thomas Alan Destefano Jr. and Sgt. Benitez.
Alvarez’s suit claimed that on Feb. 17, 2018, the officers kicked down his front door, dragged him out of his house, slammed his head against a car windshield causing him to bleed and arrested him without probable cause because he was gay, according to the 77-page complaint.
Alvarez spent two weeks in the Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of driving under the influence, driving with a suspended or revoked license and resisting arrest. But all of those charges were later dismissed by the Santa Clara County Superior County due to insufficient evidence.
His suit marks at least the fourth time in recent years that the Palo Alto Police Department has been accused of using excessive force.
Officers Conde and Destefano are still actively employed by the city. City officials would not confirm the nature of Benitez’s departure, only that he was no longer employed by the city.
Efforts to reach Benitez on the phone have been unsuccessful.
“Obviously the police department and the city of Palo Alto thus far have failed to step up and condemn the actions of these officers,” Cody Salfen, one of the two attorneys representing Alvarez, said in an interview Thursday. “To think that taxpayers are still rewarding (Benitez) is incomprehensible at this point in time and history.
“It’s disgusting and symptomatic of a department that tolerates its employees breaking the law.”
In early May, the city of Palo Alto rejected a public record request from this news organization to obtain body cam and dashcam footage of the incident, citing a provision in California law that protects an individual’s right to privacy. But in July, Alvarez’s attorneys released copies of the surveillance video from outside Alvarez’ home and audio recorded by the officers.
None of the officers wore body cameras during the incident and though their squad cars were equipped with dash cameras, they were not pointed toward the confrontation. The officers were wearing microphones, however, which caught audio footage.
The surveillance video and audio recordings corroborated much of the details outlined in the court documents and provided a first-hand glimpse into the events that took place on Feb. 17, 2018.
On that date, Officer Conde was on patrol and recognized a vehicle that he associated with Alvarez. Conde attempted to follow Alvarez to his driveway, because he knew that his license had been suspended a month earlier, according to the suit.
Conde caught Alvarez exiting the parked car in his driveway and informed Alvarez that he was being arrested for driving with a suspended license, the suit states. Alvarez repeatedly asked Conde whether he saw him driving the vehicle and when Conde stated “I didn’t”, Alvarez entered his home and slams the door behind him, video footage showed.
During court proceedings in Nov. 2018, Conde admitted he did not confirm that Alvarez was in the vehicle until he saw him get out following about two seconds where his view was obstructed. He also testified that he did not know whether Alvarez’s license was suspended at the time he decided to arrest him.
Despite those uncertainties, Conde pursed the arrest and called for backup. That’s when Benitez and DeStefano entered the scene, swarmed Alvarez’s front door and ordered him to come outside.
Although Alvarez can be faintly heard saying that he is coming out of the mobile home, the officers kicked in the door and dragged him outside.
After putting Alvarez in handcuffs, the video footage displays Benitez striking him and slamming his head against a car windshield. After Alvarez tells the officers that he’s bleeding, Benitez grabs him by the shirt and says “you’re going to be bleeding a whole lot more.”
After Alvarez was placed in a squad car, audio from Benitez’s microphone captures him using the moment as a teaching lesson.
“See how well they behave when we put our foot down?” he says to another officer. “And that’s what we don’t do enough of.”
In addition to excessive force, the lawsuit alleges that the officers, who knew Alvarez was gay from previous interactions, “mocked, made fun of and humiliated” him because of his sexual orientation while in custody and were “motivated by their hatred and prejudice of homosexual males.”
During a conversation with a tow-truck driver called to take Alvarez’s car away, Benitez reenacted the events that had just occurred, informed the man that Alvarez is gay and raised his voice in order to mimic Alvarez, according to an audio recording.
Despite department policies that require supervisors to submit a use-of-force report, Benitez never filed a report, according to Alvarez’s attorneys.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office is waiting to receive further information and findings from the Palo Alto Police Department and then plans to launch its own review of the case, according to public information officer Sean Webby.
“This speaks volumes to our claims that the agency suffers from a culture of violence, a culture of covering things up, a culture of failing to adhere to their constitutional duties as police officers to the point that they are breaking their own policies and therefore, the law,” Salfen said.
