About Rodel Rodis: Appeals Court Clears Way for SF Official To Sue Police
Rodel Rodis, Esquire is NaFFAA Region 8’s Founding Regional Chair and one of NaFFAA’s founders.
Appeals court clears way for SF politician to sue police
Last Update: 1:43 pm
A San Francisco community college trustee and civic leader can sue two police officers for wrongful arrest after they accused him of trying to pass a counterfeit $100 bill that turned out to be authentic, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
San Francisco police officers arrested Rodel Rodis in 2003 at a pharmacy after he used a 22-year-old $100 bill to pay for cough medicine. Even though a counterfeit pen showed the worn bill to be legitimate, the pharmacy manager called police because the old bill didn’t display any of the newer security features printed on newer bills, such as a watermark.
Continue reading the complete news article at Fox6.com.
Rodel Rodis had sent us an e-mail with a copy of a news article from SFGate.com. There was a deviation in the last lines of the article from the Fox6.com news release.
Appeals court clears way for SF politician to sue police
By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
(08-28) 12:56 PDT San Francisco (AP) –Deputy City Attorney Scott Wiener said city officials disagreed with the ruling and were contemplating their next step.
“We are seriously considering further appeals,” he said.
09-29-07: Rodel Rodis shared this with us at almost 2:00 am today.
College board member arrested in ‘03 bogus cash case can sue police
Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
A member of the San Francisco Community College board who was mistakenly arrested for passing what turned out to be a genuine $100 bill can go to trial on his lawsuit against the arresting officers for allegedly violating his rights, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
In a 2-1 ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the fact that a drugstore manager was suspicious of the bill that Rodel Rodis used to make a purchase in February 2003 wasn’t enough for San Francisco police to arrest Rodis, handcuff him and hold him at a police station for almost two hours.
The bill proved to be genuine. But even if it had been counterfeit, the court majority said, innocently passing a counterfeit bill is not a crime, and police had no evidence that Rodis thought the bill was a fake.
“No reasonable or prudent officer could have concluded that Rodis intentionally and knowingly used a counterfeit bill,” Judge Dorothy Nelson said in the majority opinion.
continue reading at http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/29/BA1JRQUJM.DTL
Comment by Lorna — August 29, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
Rodel Rodis also forwarded the Metropolitan News Online link that contains the PDF file of RODIS vs. CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
http://www.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0807%2F0515522
Comment by Lorna — August 29, 2007 @ 2:20 pm
Although Rodel’s account of the Walgreens Arrest might show up in several Fil-Am print publications within the next few hours or days, his commentary is quoted here at the NaFFAAR8.com website as archival content of this civil rights issue. An online publication or online edition of a Fil-Am publication has yet to publish this commentary.
From: Rodel50@aol.com
Date: Sep 4, 2007 10:16 AM
Subject: Telltale Signs/ BEHIND MY WALGREENS ARREST
To: undisclosed-recipients
Telltale Signs/ BEHIND MY WALGREENS ARREST
Rodel E. Rodis, September 3, 2007
There has hardly been a week in the past 4 1/2 years when I have not been asked about the time I was arrested by San Francisco police officers for passing what they thought was a counterfeit $100 bill at a Walgreens pharmacy near my home. News of my arrest was widely reported in the local TV news stations and appeared on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle Metro section which included a photo of me holding the $100 bill.
That 2003 Chronicle photo was used again last week on August 29 to accompany the San Francisco Chronicle news report that “Man Arrested in ‘03 Bogus Cash Case Can Sue Police”. The article referred to the “for publication” decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on August 28, 2007 rejecting the San Francisco police officers’ defense of qualified immunity because, according to the 2-1 decision, they had no “probable cause” to arrest me.
Among the factors which the Court cited as those which “significantly decreased” the probability that I would knowingly use a fake bill was the fact that Police Sergeant Jeff Barry, the first officer to arrive at the scene, had known me for several years: “He knew Rodis was a member of the Community College Board, and he had interacted with Rodis personally, encountering him at activities associated with the elementary school that both Barry’s and Rodis’s children attended.”
Because Sgt. Barry knew me, the Court reasoned, I should not have been arrested. In truth, it was precisely because he knew me that I was arrested.
The story behind the story began in 1995 when my oldest son, Carlo, was selected to be a member of the St. Stephen’s Elementary School basketball team. He practiced basketball everyday to improve his ball-handling and shooting skills as he eagerly awaited the intramural tournament. But Carlo never got a chance to play because his coach only played the best 5 or 6 players on the team and Carlo wasn’t one of them.
After several games watching Carlo suffer in frustration on the bench, I went to see the principal, Sister Paulina, to complain. “This isn’t the NBA and the coach isn’t Don Nelson,” I said. The principal was sympathetic to my concerns and directed me to speak to the volunteer in charge of the boys’ athletic program, Police Sergeant Jeff Barry.
I knew Sgt. Barry because his wife was a teacher at the school and their son, Sean, was my son’s classmate. When I spoke to Sgt. Barry about my concerns, he listened quietly while I told him about how my son’s self-confidence and self-esteem had eroded because of his coach’s actions.
Instead of responding to my concerns, however, Sgt. Barry questioned me about a policy of the San Francisco Community College Board where he knew I was a member. His brother-in -law is a member of the SF Community College police force, he said. “Why won’t you guys allow your police force to carry guns on campus?” He demanded to know. I told him that the issue was decided before I came on the board and hadn’t been brought up since then.
Sgt. Barry became quite agitated as he accused me endangering his brother-in-law’s life with our no-guns policy. He made it crystal clear to me that he would never vote for me until the policy was changed. I told him that I was sorry he felt that way.
When the school year ended, my wife and I pulled our boys out of that Catholic school and enrolled them in a public elementary school near our home.
On February 12, 2003, I went to the Walgreens pharmacy near my office to purchase items totaling about $42.62. When I handed the young cashier my $100 bill, she applied a counterfeit detector pen which showed it was genuine. Unconvinced, she called the manager, who examined the bill and applied the detector pen again. When it showed the same result, he left with my bill. I followed him to his office and waited for him. When he came out, he said it was counterfeit. As we discussed his suspicion, I noticed that police officers had entered the store.
A female police officer named Michelle Liddicoet approached me and inquired if I was the one who had used the counterfeit bill. I asked her how she was sure it was counterfeit. She said it was obvious from how it looked. She then asked me for my driver’s license and I told her I was an attorney with my law office a block away and that I was an elected official of the city, facts to impress upon her that I would not be the kind to knowingly use a counterfeit bill.
“I know who you are. You should be ashamed of yourself,” she said. The next words to come from her mouth were: “Put your hands behind your back.”
After Officer Liddicoet handcuffed me and placed me in the back of the police car, she sat in the front seat, directly in front of me. Before her partner could start the car, however, another officer went over to Officer Liddicoet and said, “Under the circumstances, I would appreciate it if you didn’t include my name in the police report.” Officer Liddicoet said “Yes, Sarge”. I did not recognize him so I wondered who he was and what circumstances he was talking about.
I was then transported to the Taraval police station for further investigation. The handcuffs behind my back were removed but I was placed in a holding area with my left wrist handcuffed to a rail. I asked to call my wife but this request was disallowed. I could do it later after I was booked downtown, an officer told me.
After a US Secret Service officer had determined that my bill was genuine and I was released, I obtained a copy of the police report. Because it was not written by Liddicoet, it included the name of the “Sarge” who spoke with her: Sgt. Jeff Barry.
My arrest was the most humiliating and degrading experience of my life. Because an injustice was committed against me, I hired my friend, Larry Fasano, to file suit against Walgreens, the City, the SFPD and police officers Barry and Liddicoet.
Walgreens subsequently fired the white manager who called the police and replaced him with a Filipino, the first time in a San Francisco Walgreens store. Although my suit against the City and the SFPD was dismissed, the SFPD did formally adopt a policy that officers will no longer arrest anyone for merely possessing or using a counterfeit bill unless there was some evidence that the suspect had knowledge that the bill was fake.
One month before my suit against Barry and Liddicoet could proceed to trial in April of 2004, however, they appealed the court’s denial of their motion to dismiss based on their “qualified immunity” defense.
In its ruling last week, the Ninth Circuit declared: “Given all of the circumstances surrounding Rodis’s arrest, no prudent person could have concluded reasonably that there was a fair probability Rodis had committed a crime. Consequently, Defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity.”
Police officers do not have the power to strip anyone of their individual constitutional rights without probable cause, for personal reasons.
Send comments to Rodel50@aol.com.
Comment by Lorna — September 4, 2007 @ 8:50 pm
Here’s the latest from Rodel Rodis that was sent out to his yahoo groups:
Telltale Signs/ Why Sgt. Barry Arrested Me
Rodel E. Rodis, September 10, 2007
After I obtained the police report of my February 17, 2003 Walgreens arrest (for using a “counterfeit” $100 bill which turned out to be genuine), I learned the identity of San Francisco police Sgt. Jeff Barry. I then connected the dots and tied our last unpleasant encounter in 1995 to his conduct in either directing me to be arrested or in allowing it to happen when there was no “probable cause” to do so.
What I could not understand is why he did so. How could he carry a grudge against me for so long and to that extent? It was a minor tiff. Because he was in charge of the boy’s athletic program at the parochial school our sons attended, I had gone to see him in 1995 to ask him why his basketball coach had not allowed my son to play for even a minute during the three games I went to. And he was upset about a no-guns policy of the City College Board of Trustees (where I sit as a Trustee) which he said endangered the life of his brother-in-law. Although we were both upset at that meeting, it should have been no big deal. So why?
Over the years, a few have suggested that it is in the nature of power to corrupt. When you have the absolute power to humiliate another human being whom you do not like, it can be very difficult to resist the temptation to exercise that power.
Still others have suggested that racism was involved. It was no accident that both Sgt. Barry and Officer Michelle Liddicoet are whites and that I am Filipino. Had I been white, like then Supervisor Gavin Newsom, they never would have even considered arresting me.
One friend, who has frequent contact with white police officers like Barry, explained that many of them feel threatened by minorities, especially those they perceive to be superior to them in qualification and achievement. These damn minorities must be put in their place and lowered a peg or two or more.
Many of these police officers who are of Irish descent, my friend said, went to Bishop Riordan High School because they did not have the grades to go to Sacred Heart or Saint Ignatius. They went to college at either San Francisco State or at the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco obtaining a bachelor’s degree and going no further. Becoming a San Francisco police officer or a fireman is the most they ever aspired to be or could ever hope to be.
That ambition was probably all right back when they knew that they could rise through the ranks to make it all they way to the top, to someday be Chief of Police.
But times changed. Because of “affirmative action”, minorities were allowed to become police officers and firemen and even promoted to officer posts. The opportunities for promotion for the Jeff Barrys of San Francisco were narrowing. They may never make it to chief. All because of “those damn uppity minorities”.
About a week after news of my arrest was published in the papers, I received a call from Chief Earl Sanders, the first African-American police chief of San Francisco. He called to express his apologies for the actions of his police officers.
We had a long conversation as Chief Sanders explained the presence and prevalence of racism within his police force even with him as chief. “Some officers landed on Plymouth Rock,” he said. “Other officers had Plymouth Rock land on them.” We chuckled at that observation.
Sanders explained how racism works. When I’m wearing my police chief uniform, I get respect,” he said. “But when I’m not in uniform, I’m treated like a n____r”. He even disclosed that whenever his well-dressed wife goes to Nordstrom’s, “she’s watched like a hawk by white salesgirls who think she’ll steal something.”
Sanders came to San Francisco from Texas at age 14, went to George Washington High School, before earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in public administration from Golden Gate University. In 1964, he joined the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) and, 7 years later, was promoted to inspector in the homicide detail, handling some of the City’s most famous cases, including the Zebra killings in 1973 and 1974 where he tracked down 4 black Muslims who had killed 14 whites.
After gaining fame for solving the Zebra killings, Sanders organized the Officers for Justice, a largely black group of police officers, and filed a civil rights suit that charged the San Francisco Police Department with failing to hire minorities and women and endangering the few that were in the department.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported: “When the Officers for Justice civil rights suit against departmental racism came to trial in federal court in 1978, then-Inspector Sanders testified that white officers had shown him a handful of bullets and described them as “nigger stoppers.” Black officers could not rely on their white colleagues for backup on the street, he told the court.
“Earl was the leader,” recalled Robert Gnaizda, a lawyer who helped bring the lawsuit and remained close to Sanders after the case resulted in a consent decree that opened the department to women and minorities. “He’s beyond just being a police officer. He’s a person of great integrity.”
Sometime after he joined the SFPD in 1964, Sanders began a life-long friendship with a young African-American lawyer who also came from Texas. That lawyer was Willie Brown who went on to became an Assemblyman and then Speaker of the California Assembly for more than 20 years before being elected Mayor of San Francisco. After Brown’s election as mayor, he appointed Sanders as Assistant Chief and then Chief of Police after Fred Lau, the first Chinese American police chief, retired.
And now the police chief of San Francisco is Heather Fong, the first Chinese American woman to serve as police chief in San Francisco and probably in the US.
At this rate, Sgt. Barry will never make it as police chief. No wonder he had me arrested and humiliated. Take that you damn uppity minorities!
Send comments to Rodel50@aol.com.
Comment by Lorna — September 12, 2007 @ 4:32 pm