FUGITIVE COP FACES NEW CIVIL LAWSUIT

Probe Target Vazquez Accused Of Coercing Man To Buy Drugs

A new federal civil rights lawsuit claims renegade Oakland police officers
used threats of false arrest to coerce a man into buying drugs.

Earl Tolbert claims Officer Francisco Vazquez -- one of "The Riders," a
group of officers now facing criminal charges for brutalizing people,
planting evidence and other offenses -- and another officer not named in
the suit threatened to frame him for drug possession unless he agreed to
buy drugs.

So Tolbert bought drugs and gave them to Vazquez at least four times, the
suit claims.

"It was not buy-and-bust -- the drugs, once they were purchased, were given
to the officer to do whatever he wanted to do with them," attorney John
Burris said Tuesday. "What it appears, given the number of cases we have
seen, is that the drugs were used to plant on other individuals with whom
they (the officers) were seeking cooperation."

The lawsuit Burris filed Monday in U.S. District Court on behalf of Tolbert
and Michael Higgs, Billy Burrell, Alvin Calloway, Donnie Hardiway, Dajuan
Owens and Craig Smith is the latest of several lawsuits against "The
Riders" and those who allegedly permitted their activities -- Sgt. Jerry
Hayter, Chief Richard Word and the city itself.

In fact, this latest suit comes roughly one month after Burris filed a
federal class action lawsuit against Vazquez and the other "Riders" on
behalf of more than a dozen alleged victims. Burris said he expects the
lawsuits eventually will be consolidated.

In November, Vazquez and officers Clarence Mabanag, Jude Siapno and Matthew
Hornung were criminally charged with a total of 48 felonies and 12
misdemeanors for their alleged actions between June 13 and July 3 in which
at least eight people were victimized.

Three of the officers surrendered to face the charges and are scheduled for
a preliminary hearing next month. Vazquez fled, perhaps to Mexico, and is
being sought by local and federal law enforcement agencies.

Another officer, Steve Hewison, is named as a defendant in the civil cases,
but no criminal charges have been filed against him.

Burris said the new lawsuit was filed in order to preserve plaintiffs
rights' under certain statutes of limitations, or laws that limit how much
time can elapse between an event and the filing of a lawsuit over that event.

But this complaint, he noted, is distinguished from the earlier
class-action complaint by the drug-buying allegation leveled by Tolbert.

"And we don't believe by any stretch of the imagination that this was the
only person involved in this way," Burris said. "The district attorney may
very well be aware of individuals who likewise were used by the officers to
purchase drugs for them."

Burris called Tolbert's claim "pretty shocking.

"This person obviously had a legitimate reason to be fearful," the lawyer
said. "He was caught between a rock and a hard spot. ... You have the fear
of the cops on one hand and the fear of the drug dealers on the other."

Each of the other plaintiffs in this new lawsuit basically claims he was
falsely arrested for drug possession by one or more of "The Riders," with
the charges later dismissed by prosecutors; some allege they were assaulted
by the officers.

Mike Rains, Mabanag's attorney, said the lawsuit's claims seem without merit.

"Some of it strikes me as probably laughable," he said. "We now have these
plaintiffs crawling out from under some rock and somehow thinking they're
going to score the lotto by jumping on some lawsuit bandwagon. It is
offensive in the extreme ... and I certainly hope the city takes an
aggressive stance on the defense of these cases."

Randolph Hall, chief assistant to Oakland City Attorney John Russo,
couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.