Vallejo police Officer Robert DeMarco’s costly baton

VALLEJO – In the last two months, the city of Vallejo has settled two lawsuits involving allegations of excessive force by the same officer using a metal baton for a total of nearly $500,000. 

The lawsuits stemmed from two incidents in 2017 and 2018 when Officer Robert DeMarco struck two men with a baton while they were on the ground, causing injuries that required hospitalization. 

The settlements, which were both executed in April, bring the total the city has paid out in lawsuits for DeMarco’s use of a baton to $672,000, including another settlement from 2019.

The most expensive lawsuit settled this year alleged that DeMarco struck a man several times with a baton after he had already complied with orders to lie on the ground. The man, identified in the lawsuit as Brian Buster, received a $412,500 settlement.

The incident happened on May 20, 2017, after Buster received a call from his then 16-year-old daughter telling him she had been slapped by an older man. As Buster was on his way to see his daughter, he noticed police lights behind him. When he got out of his car, two officers, identified as DeMarco and Officer Kenneth Jackson, ordered him to lie on the ground, the lawsuit alleges.

Buster complied and lay on his stomach, according to the lawsuit. But DeMarco kicked him in the face and head and Jackson elbowed him in the head, the lawsuit alleges.

Buster then instinctively covered up his head and face and curled into a fetal position; DeMarco struck Buster several times with a metal baton on his back, elbow, ribs, and shoulders, the lawsuit alleges.

In court filings, the city denied DeMarco kicked the man in the face or head and argued that DeMarco kicked Buster in the arm and shoulder after Buster moved his hands underneath him. The city also admitted that DeMarco struck Buster three times using his baton, saying it was because Buster “refused to place his hands behind his back.”

Buster was taken to a hospital where he received stitches on his elbow, an injury he suffered from one of the baton strikes. Two years later, his elbow still didn’t properly function, the lawsuit alleged.

In the second lawsuit settled this year, the city paid $85,000 to Luis Trujillo-Lopez for an Oct. 28, 2018, incident when DeMarco struck Trujillo-Lopez repeatedly with a metal baton while he was on the ground yelling in pain.

Body camera video of the incident released by the city last year shows little of the events that led up to the incident, partly because DeMarco held his hand over his body camera before he started hitting Trujillo-Lopez. DeMarco and Trujillo-Lopez have conflicting accounts of who escalated the encounter.

According to Trujillo-Lopez’s lawsuit, he and his friend Kenny Santiago came out of Trujillo-Lopez’s apartment because police were towing vehicles on Camino Alto. Santiago, who was homeless at the time, had parked his van containing all of his personal belongings in front of Trujillo-Lopez's apartment.

DeMarco was the only officer present. The lawsuit alleges that he was confrontational, threatening Trujillo-Lopez and holding his baton at shoulder height as if prepared to strike.

DeMarco told Santiago that he had five minutes to remove his belongings from the van before it was towed. Trujillo-Lopez and Santiago started pulling Santiago’s possessions out of the van, but after two minutes the driver started pulling the van off the ground. According to the lawsuit, when they asked DeMarco and the tow truck driver for more time, they started laughing.

DeMarco allegedly then pushed Trujillo-Lopez, causing him to fall backward onto the sidewalk. As Trujillo-Lopez tried to stand up, DeMarco beat him with his baton, targeting his head, face, arm, and body, according to the lawsuit.

DeMarco’s police report acknowledges that he pushed Trujillo-Lopez over and struck him with the baton while was on the ground, but alleges that DeMarco had threatened to fight him and taken a fighting stance.

Trujillo-Lopez was arrested and taken to a hospital for X-rays. Hospital staff recommended Trujillo-Lopez be prescribed pain medication, but DeMarco allegedly refused to allow it, and he was not administered the prescribed medication once transferred to jail, according to the lawsuit.

Trujillo-Lopez was charged with resisting arrest and disturbing the peace, according to court records. He pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace and the resisting arrest charge was dismissed.

A third man who sued Vallejo over DeMarco’s use of a baton received a $175,000 settlement in 2019. Joseph Ledesma alleged that during a 2015 domestic violence call, DeMarco broke his arms in multiple places and fractured his shin.

According to the lawsuit, Ledesma was in his truck attempting to tow a trailer away when DeMarco approached him. DeMarco’s partner, Officer Amanda Schwarz, went to speak with Ledesma’s wife.

DeMarco pointed his gun and ordered Ledesma out of the vehicle, the lawsuit alleged. The Ledesmas’ pit bull then ran through an open gate. DeMarco shot the dog with his stun gun and then struck Ledesma with his baton. Neither officer activated their body-worn cameras prior to the incident.