Officer Alfonso Esqueda III charged with assault

[KC]

August 07, 2006 - A police officer faces felony assault charges after a colleague reported that he put his service gun to the head of a 20-year-old man in an effort to elicit information about an automobile theft, the Daly City Police Department reported.

San Mateo County prosecutors charged Officer Alfonso Esqueda III, 32, last week with assault with a deadly weapon, brandishing a weapon and assault under the color of authority, all felonies.

Esqueda, who joined the Daly City force in September after working as a police officer in Long Beach, turned himself in Friday after authorities obtained a warrant for his arrest. He posted $100,000 bail and was released. He had been placed on unpaid leave during an internal probe by the Police Department.

An investigation by Daly City police and the San Mateo County district attorney found Esqueda used excessive force during the July 29 incident.

After allegedly holding the gun to the victim's head, he "drove the victim to another area in an effort to look for stolen vehicles," Daly City police Sgt. Carol Sloane said in a news release. "The victim was later released uninjured."

A second officer saw the alleged assault and reported it to a superior, Sloane said.

sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/07/BABADIGEST2.DTL

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LBReport.com
Special
Hear -- Yes, Hear -- The Sound Of Heroism: Two LBPD North Division Patrol Officers On Graveyard Shift Defy Smoke & Fire, Put Themselves In Peril...And Save A Large Family

We post rarely heard police radio communications

(January 27, 2003) -- While most of LB slept on January 17, 2003, two LBPD officers put themselves in peril to save people they'd never met.
LBReport.com posts below audio files that let you hear -- yes, hear -- what happened. These are not "911" calls from the outside. They are rarely heard police radio communications between police officers in the field and a dispatcher downtown.
The tape was released to LBReport.com at our request. It demonstrates in ways that words cannot what these officers encountered and experienced.
LBPD Officer Alfonso Esqueda and Officer Vincent Otto have been partners for some time. They've been with LBPD for over two years.
Officers Esqueda and Otto are patrol officers. They work the overnight "graveyard" patrol shift in LB's North Division.
At roughly 1:45 a.m. -- while on routine patrol -- Officers Esqueda and Otto spotted what looked like strobe lights in the distance. They drove up and found a garage in a residential neighborhood fully engulfed in flames.
On the same property with flaming garage was a front house...and two back houses.
LBFD hadn't arrived yet...and worst of all, the people inside still appeared to be asleep. Officer Esqueda reported the fire (which LBPD relayed to LBFD), but smoke and flames were already spreading that could overcome -- and doom -- sleeping family members.
Officers Esqueda and Otto had to make a split second decision. It involved real risk for them. Police don't receive training or equipment to handle fires. Simply put, if you'd think twice about running into a smoke filled, choking, roasting building with no protective gear or breathing equipment, that's the decision Officers Esqueda and Otto had to make.
Without regard for their own safety, the two officers ran in. This was clearly heroic.
Officer Otto cleared the front house while his partner, Officer Esqueda, headed for the two back houses and the garage.
Officer Otto found members of a large family, including an elderly woman. He got them out of the house as smoke and flames approached.
Meanwhile, Officer Esqueda worked to clear the back houses but found himself trapped by smoke and flames. It's the kind of potentially life-threatening fire situation that can arise very quickly. You will hear what happened for yourself. If it doesn't raise your heartrate, you probably lack a blood pressure.
With flames and smoke all around him, Officer Esqueda managed to clear the back residences. Thanks to quick thinking by the LBPD dispatcher and NLB Sergeant (you'll hear them), back up units arrived, including Officer Chris Gentry.
Officer Gentry helped Officer Esqueda get out alive. In the process, the officers had to dodge a menacing dog (you'll hear that too).
We've edited the tape to reduce silent periods between the officers' transmissions. We deleted the exact address, but it was in NLB a couple of blocks from Atlantic Ave. and Market St...and could have been anywhere.
LBReport.com is honored to let LB residents hear what these police officers did...while most of LB was asleep.
We've posted 93 seconds of audio below.

RA format
(compressed file, approx. 249 kB)
(The sound is in the .ra ("real audio") format, a compressed audio file you can play if you have the "Real One" player. It's downloadable free but check system requirements at Download "Real One" player).
We've also posted a transcript below, to help readers translate some of the police jargon.
Officer Otto: ...Notify Fire we have a structure fire...
Dispatcher: 10-4 [Message received/OK]
Officer Esqueda: Hey Vince, I need help in evacuating this house.
Dispatcher: SAM 15 copy? [Dispatcher asks sergeant unit ("SAM"), did you hear that?]...
Sergeant: Negative, where are they at?
Officer Esqueda: The house is on fire. I'm gonna, I gotta evacuate this family...
Sergeant: 10-4. En route. Send them a unit Code 3 [Send another police car with lights and sirens]
Officer Esqueda: I'm going to need more than that, Sarge. I've got a back house back here that's on fire!
Dispatcher: 10-4, units to respond [asking other field units to respond]
Dispatcher: 3Adam51 and 53, I'll put you on the call. [Dispatcher assigns two other units to the scene.]
Officer Esqueda: [Coughing, menacing dog barking] Vince, I'm at the house, evacuating the back.
Officer Otto: 10-4, I've got the front house evacuated.
Dispatcher: 10-4.
Officer Esqueda: I don't know if there's someone in the garage Vince I really can't get inside.
[Crosstalk, several transmissions coincide]: Guys...Fire is en route to that...[crosstalk]...getting pretty [inaudible] [Following is Officer Otto speaking to Esqueda] now I want you to get out of there, man...
Officer Esqueda: ...Find me a spot to get out. I can't get out!
Dispatcher: We're advising Fire of the last. [We're telling LBFD what was just said.]
Officer Esqueda: [inaudible]...We got everybody out of the rear house.
Dispatcher: Is the unit also out of the rear that couldn't get out?
Officer Gentry [has arrived on scene, assists Officer Esqueda in getting out]: 10-4! We're on the west side. We gotta crawl over some fences, but we're OK.
Dispatcher: 10-4.

[So what]

What does the above post have to do with Officer Alfonso Esqueda putting a gun to someone's head and threatening them?

I don't care if Officer Alfonso Esqueda saved ten people from danger, Officer Alfonso Esqueda seems to be a danger to the public!

[pro esqueda]

You must be a one sided person. Ever here there are two sides to every story. How can he be a danger when the criminal was never injured. It appears something is not right here. All the media that I have seen on this outstanding officer has been positive. People like you just like to stit the pot and cause problems for good people. Officer Esqueda is a great police officer and San Mateo County should be pleased with his work.

[KC]

pro said:

You must be a one sided person. Ever here there are two sides to every story. How can he be a danger when the criminal was never injured. It appears something is not right here. All the media that I have seen on this outstanding officer has been positive. People like you just like to stit the pot and cause problems for good people. Officer Esqueda is a great police officer and San Mateo County should be pleased with his work.

Sounds like you must be a family member in denial which is understandable.

You say "How can he be a danger when the criminal was never injured." For one the person wasn't a criminal, the only criminal I see from the story is Officer Alfonso Esqueda. When a police officer holds a gun to someone's head and demands they do something, that is wrong and illegal! What would you have said, if the gun went off? Would you have said, "oh it was just an accident?"

You mention there is two sides to a story, well one side of the story came from another police officer. Are you saying that the other police officer is lying and made this story up and it never happened?

Officer Alfonso Esqueda even kidnaped this person and took him against his will, with a gun to his head. I don't care if Officer Alfonso Esqueda took a bullet for the Pope two years ago, what he allegedly did was totally wrong!

I for one am not only glad, but I'm proud of the other police officer for turning in Officer Alfonso Esqueda, at least someone knew the difference between right and wrong.

[pro esqueda]

its sad you feel this way. and no im not a family member. Im sure if you knew the him you wouldnt think this way. its too bad you dont know all the facts. once they come out you'll understand, till then Ill keep praying for true justice.

[concerned]

I am not a family member either ... But I would like to say that these officers trust eachother with their lives on a daily basis to make a better and safe place for both you and me...... Here is my humble opinion we do not have the facts and when we do I am sure the story will be a different one.... Ask yourself what led the offier to this situation we all have families at home and no one would place oneself in this situation unless there was a valid reason.. It sounds like this officer has been a police officer for a very long time and he has definately earned a fair evaluation of this situation....... All the negative somments only demonstatrates that although our heros risk their lives on a daily basis for us all they are truly not appreciated.

[Pro Aldonso]

Wow...... What are the facts if you know them then please share them... Was he kidnapped, or did he go willingly, yes there was a gun involved, Hummm when and wy... please you are an ignorant individual stick to the facts not whats in the media outlets but valid work history and valid occurances. Do not jump on the band wagon. Do not blame until this issue is resolved.. When you are on the streets , protecting total strangers who do not appreciate what on officer does.

The example you have given of the pope only enforces your lack of respect for authority .
Your proud of the officer who turned him in ... wow.. what do you think this has done to the department who will ever trust his life to this officer again what was his role in this situation and was he only covering his own ass......... The department is build on trust and who is this oficer look at his work history and then draw conclusions because that is all you have done so far draw conclusions, to a situation in which you have never been in... and will never be....

[Pro Alfonso]

This is what happens when police officers are doing their job on a daily basis..........So if he had pointed his gun it would have been wrong... open your eyes to todays realites... it aint pretty and we can not live by the same rules......... They can cost lives in the streets.....

Niemi was shot about 11pm Monday, after he was called to Doolittle Drive near Belvedere in San Leandro because of reports of people loitering and making noise. Niemi got out of his vehicle, investigators said, and two people pulled up in a white Thunderbird. Police believe Ramirez was in the Thunderbird, and pulled a gun and shot Niemi multiple times. He was later pronounced dead at Eden Medical Center.

The close-knit San Leandro Police Department was rocked by the first fatal shooting of an officer in nearly four decades. Nieme had been on the force three years, and fellow officers say he was like family.

"When you close your eyes and you think about your best friend in the 7th grade -- the kid you rode your bike to school with -- that's Dan Nieme," said Chief Joe Kitchen.

Nieme came to police work after a career in computers. He leaves a wife, a 13-year-old son, and a six-year-old daughter.

[Love for our Officers]

Support our Officers they are doing their jobs.........

[Pro Esqueda]

My family supports Officer Esqueda....We need more Officers like him.....