A San Diego man has accused sheriff’s deputies who work at the downtown Central Jail of unlawfully texting his mugshot to one of his work colleagues, “humiliating him and harming his reputation,” following a New Year’s arrest, according to a lawsuit filed in San Diego federal court.
Damion Hartsfield, 45, also alleged that San Diego police officers from a downtown bicycle team wrongly arrested him on a public intoxication charge, and that he subsequently suffered a fractured shoulder when he was jostled around the back of a moving police van while handcuffed but not restrained by a seatbelt, according to the lawsuit filed last week.
“After Mr. Hartsfield was booked into the jail, an employee of the County of San Diego accessed Mr. Hartsfield’s booking photo … and, with no legitimate reason, texted it to Mr. Hartsfield’s colleague at work, humiliating him and harming his reputation with the suggestion that Mr. Hartsfield was guilty of a crime,” the lawsuit alleged.
The suit asserted that Hartsfield’s arrest became “fodder for office gossip” and that the unlawfully released mugshot was “made into a widely circulated meme,” resulting in Hartsfield being “ridiculed (and) humiliated.”
The suit alleged wrongful detention, false arrest, battery and excessive force against the San Diego police officers who arrested and transported Hartsfield, and negligence against the unidentified sheriff’s employees who allegedly shared his booking photo with his co-worker. It also alleged a failure by police Chief Scott Wahl and other department leaders to properly train, supervise and discipline officers.
The San Diego Police Department declined to comment Thursday, citing the pending litigation.
Sheriff’s spokesperson Lt. David Collins said in a statement that his office was made aware this week of the allegations that jail deputies shared Hartsfield’s mugshot and that the office is investigating the allegations. Beyond that, Collins said the office does not comment on pending litigation.
Sheriff’s Office procedures prohibit its employees from sharing confidential information. And California state law strictly limits the ability of law enforcement agencies to share inmates’ mugshots, especially those arrested on non-violent charges.
Hartsfield’s lawsuit focused particularly on San Diego police’s Gaslamp Enforcement Team, formerly known as the Downtown Bike Team, which he alleged is the unit that arrested him without probable cause. The team’s tactics have sparked controversy after several violent arrests by its officers were captured on video and gained wide attention online. A San Diego County Grand Jury report released in May suggested ways the team could soften its image and build better relationships with the public.
“The misconduct by the bike team repeats itself with stunning regularity because the leadership lets it happen and turns a blind eye each time community members, victims and the media bring it to the Department’s attention,” Julia Yoo, one of Hartsfield’s attorneys, said in a statement.
According to the lawsuit, Hartsfield went out with a date to celebrate New Year’s Eve and was staying at a Gaslamp Quarter hotel so that they wouldn’t have to drive. Around 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 1, Hartsfield and his companion had just left a restaurant and were heading to their hotel when Hartsfield struck up a conversation with a police officer.
During that conversation, Hartsfield faintly heard a voice say “clear the area,” but he alleged it was difficult to hear where the voice was coming from because of an ambulance’s siren and the ongoing arrest of a woman nearby, according to the lawsuit. Hartsfield asserted that just as he finished conversing with the officer, other officers grabbed him from behind, handcuffed him, accused him of not listening to commands and arrested him on suspicion of public intoxication.
“Hartsfield had not been obstructing anyone on the sidewalk,” the lawsuit asserted. “He was not impaired. He was walking, standing and speaking without difficulty.”
According to the suit, Hartsfield was then placed in the back of a police transport van with several other individuals, but after a short drive, those individuals were released onto a street corner, leaving Hartsfield alone. The lawsuit alleged that he remained handcuffed the entire time, but was not placed in a seatbelt or otherwise restrained.
“The transport van accelerated at a high rate of speed and then aggressively stopped, at which point Mr. Hartsfield was forcibly tossed onto the van floor, landing on his back and right shoulder while handcuffed and unable to brace himself,” the lawsuit alleged.
According to the lawsuit, Hartsfield remained on the floor of the van for about 15 minutes until it arrived at the Central Jail, where an officer allegedly “dragged (him) out of the van.” He was later diagnosed with a fractured shoulder, according to the suit.
San Diego police procedures dictate that “Prisoner van officers shall secure prisoners with seatbelts unless the officer determines doing so would pose a safety risk to the officer. Officers who do not secure prisoners with seatbelts in a prisoner van shall document the reason for not doing so.”
According to the lawsuit, Hartsfield smiled during his booking photo because “the only thing running through his head was that he did not want to be ‘yet another angry Black man’ in a mugshot.” The suit alleged that while Hartsfield was jailed, two unidentified sheriff’s deputies accessed his booking photo in the jail’s internal information system, photographed the mugshot and texted it to one of Hartsfield’s co-workers.
The lawsuit does not make clear what company Hartsfield worked for or what industry he worked in, nor how the jail deputies allegedly knew his co-worker or otherwise obtained that person’s phone number.
It does not appear Hartsfield was prosecuted on the public intoxication charge. The City Attorney’s Office, which prosecutes misdemeanor crimes, said it did not have a case for Hartsfield in its system.