Police accounts vary on Acosta arrest

When Costa Mesa police handcuffed and detained 27-year-old Benito Acosta outside a 2006 City Council meeting, many of the officers were not sure why they were arresting him but knew they had to quell an emotional situation, excerpts from depositions submitted Monday in federal court show.

Some of the more than half a dozen Costa Mesa police officers who gave depositions under oath between January and July of this year said they thought Acosta was being arrested for disturbing a City Council meeting. Others thought it was for resisting police. The District Attorney’s Office declined to press charges.

City prosecutors moved forward with misdemeanor charges of their own, but the case was later thrown out because the attorney who filed the charges was not sworn in as a Costa Mesa city prosecutor. An appeal to overturn the judge’s ruling was rejected last week.

Acosta, backed by American Civil Liberties Union attorneys, sued the city, claiming it had violated his constitutional right to free speech, first for cutting him off and then for detaining him for nearly five hours.

As officers’ depositions show, some considered Acosta a catalyst for growing unrest in the meeting. Arresting officer Sgt. Bryan Glass told attorneys that when Acosta addressed the council and the audience, urging audience members to stand in support, Acosta had created a disturbance — an offense that warrants arrest.

Reserve officer Jeff Tobin, the sergeant at arms of the council meeting, was not so sure.

“Did you consider that to be a violation of municipal code ordinance or section?” ACLU attorney Belinda Escobosa Helzer asked Tobin.

“It caused me to believe that it would result, yes,” Tobin replied.

“OK. So at that point, in your mind, could you have arrested Mr. Acosta for a violation of the municipal code?”

“Perhaps.”

Acosta was booked on suspicion of resisting police and disturbing a City Council meeting. Officers described Acosta as going “rigid” when officers grabbed his arms and neck when they moved to escort him from the chambers.

The depositions showed that when officers prepared to escort Acosta out, they grew concerned about the crowd, though they opted not to call for backup waiting outside.