OAKLAND — They come from different walks of life, from the homeless man who had a knack for stealing cars, to the Antioch resident who liked to spend mornings playing video games in bed.
What they share are scars — mental or physical — from alleged violent encounters with police. But what a jury must soon decide is whether those police uses of force were justified, or the result of three Antioch officers egging each other on to commit violence, as prosecutors contend.
Thus far, jurors in the trial of ex-Antioch cops Morteza Amiri and Devon Wenger have heard from a mix of police, evidence technicians and alleged victims of police brutality. These men were either bitten by Amiri’s dog, Purcy, or shot by the less-lethal shotgun of ex-Officer Eric Rombough, who has pleaded guilty and is expected to testify.
On Tuesday, two men took the stand claiming to have been shot as part of surprise raids by Antioch police a few years ago – describing their slack-jawed shock at seeing officers in their rooms.
Jessie Wilson Jr., 29, said officers burst into the room at his sister’s house with their guns drawn, interrupting a relaxing morning spent playing Call of Duty. Within seconds, an officer had grabbed one of his hands. That’s when he heard a shot go off, followed by a searing pain in his stomach.
“It was painful,” Wilson said. “I didn’t really know what to think, I was kind of just shocked.”
Wilson – who had been on probation at the time – was booked into jail after the officers said they found a gun elsewhere in the house. He later posted bail, but never faced any charges after Contra Costa County prosecutors opted not to pursue the case.
He testified that Rombough fired the less-lethal 40mm projectile, which left a massive bruise on his abdomen.
On Tuesday, Wilson called the experience “traumatically, mentally.”
“I get scared around officers sometimes,” Wilson testified. “I just try to move cautiously now. I just have a whole different outlook on law enforcement.”
Another man repeatedly broke down in tears while recounting a May 2021 raid that came while he napped at his girlfriend’s house.
Larry Reed, 45, said he was sleeping after his fourth straight overnight shift as a caregiver when officers flooded his apartment with their guns drawn. Moments after entering, an officer opened fire with a 40mm round as Reed began to sit up – knocking him off the bed.
“I was in so much pain – I was holding my chest, like, what had happened?” said Reed, adding that officers then jumped on his back. “I was like ‘My chest is hurting, it’s hurting.’ And they didn’t care.”
The round — which he said also had been fired by Rombough — left an indentation on his chest that remained for three to four months. His chest hurt for a month.
He was never charged with any crimes, nor even booked into jail after the encounter. On the witness stand, he could think of only one reason for the raid: “I was Black.”
“It didn’t make no sense at all,” Reed said.
Reed’s cross-examination will occur Wednesday morning. Defense attorneys didn’t press Wilson hard on cross-examination, but there’s a likely explanation why: during opening statements, defense attorneys drew a line between the actions of Amiri and Wenger, and those of Rombough, whom Wenger’s lawyer described as an aggressive officer who used the less-lethal weapon on people for sport.
On Monday, jurors heard from a man named Daniel Romo, a repeated car thief who testified he was asleep when Amiri’s dog ripped up his back at a homeless encampment in 2020. No one disputes that Romo was bitten repeatedly, but Amiri’s lawyer will argue it was a justified response to a man who had just led police on a chase.
Romo’s story was rife with dubious claim. He testified, for instance, that despite being homeless at the time, he was looking to buy a car and had no idea it was stolen. He admitted driving it into a fast food drive-thru, but claimed the car’s ostensible owner — “Darryl” — reached over and stomped on the gas when Oakley police surrounded the vehicle, forcing Romo into the high-speed chase.
Once he got to the encampment where he lived, he passed out in a random tent, he testified, exhausted from the chase and being awake for days on a methamphetamine bender.
On cross-examination, he testified he lost track of how many felony convictions he had. But the fatuous mood shifted when Amiri’s lawyer, Paul Goyette, asked Romo why he never filed a complaint against Amiri.
“I was afraid to stand up or say anything like that at a law officer … I was in fear if I made a complaint or said anything that other officers would harass me over it,” Romo said. “I’m not protected, I don’t care what anybody says.”
On Tuesday, Oakley police Lt. Logan Cartwright testified about his role in the incident, stating he called Amiri for help from a K9 officer and said Romo was “possibly” sleeping when he was bitten, but he couldn’t be sure. He also said he was concerned Romo was armed.
Amiri sent a text to an Antioch sergeant about the incident, stating he and Oakley officers “planned how to f— him up,” then “went back and did justice.” In the text, he noted that Oakley police officers “agreed to keep cameras off.” Cartwright testified there was no body worn camera footage of what happened.
Amiri and Wenger are charged with conspiracy and civil rights abuses. During a break in Tuesday’s proceedings, Wenger approached a reporter for this news organization and aired his concerns about the case.
“The feds misrepresented to the media and the people how this started,” said Wenger, stressing that federal investigators never obtained proper search warrants for the cell phone data that underpins their case.
The trial judge has ruled the warrants were lawful, thus far rejecting Wenger’s assertion that the investigation was retaliation for him reporting misdeeds of other cops, including Rombough. But Wenger said he still believes authorities fabricated their justifications for gathering some evidence against him.
“The judge overlooked all of that,” Wenger said.