San Diego resident who was arrested last year while trying to film the police files a federal lawsuit against the city and SDPD
The complaint accuses the police of 'unlawfully detaining, arresting, and injuring' the plaintiff, who is a member of grassroots group Southeast San Diego Accountability Unit
Last summer, San Diego cop watcher Muslah Abdul-Hafeez was arrested as he began filming police officers responding to gunshots.
“They began striking me,” Abdul-Hafeez told KPBS days after the arrest, “digging their nails inside my skin, putting their body weight on my back, my neck. They handcuffed me real tight. I still got the scars right here. It was bleeding.”
Abdul-Hafeezis now seeking damages. He filed a federal lawsuit against the city of San Diego and SDPD on July 9, the one-year anniversary of his arrest, for violating his free speech and other constitutional rights.
The complaint, filed in the Southern District of California, recaps his version of events that led to the arrest:
He heard gunshots near a Chase Bank parking lot at Seventh Street in San Diego, then grabbed his phone from his car so he could film the responding officers.
A San Diego police officer from the bike team drew his gun and pointed it at Abdul-Hafeez, who was wearing his neon green cop watching vest.
The officer ordered Abdul-Hafeez “to get on the ground and to put his hands out to his side.”
Multiple officers piled on top of Abdul-Hafeez, digging their nails into his skin, using “excessive force” that fractured his shoulder, and tightly handcuffing him.
“At no time, did any of the Defendants intervene to stop the beating of a compliant Mr. Abdul-Hafeez.”
And finally:
After unlawfully detaining, arresting, and injuring Mr. Abdul-Hafeez, the Officers, and each of them, collaborated to write a false police report which falsely and fraudulently described Mr. Abdul-Hafeez’s actions and the basis for his detention, arrest, and future prosecution. Subsequent to his unlawful arrest, and as a result of the Officers’ advancement of their false and fabricated narrative, Mr. Abdul-Hafeez was detained for hours and was given a citation in hopes that he would be prosecuted for one misdemeanor count of California Penal Code section 148(a)(1). No formal charges were levied against Mr. Abdul-Hafeez.
(That particular penal section code, btw, is related to resisting, obstructing or delaying peace officers.)
As part of a cop-watching group called the Southeast San Diego Accountability Unit, Abdul-Hafeez was known to local police officers. The group is made up of sometimes conflicting factions, such as Bloods and Crips, who come together in their shared goal for more police accountability.
“We’re all getting oppressed the same,” another member of the group told KPBS in a story that published in May 2023, a couple months before Abdul-Hafeez’s arrest. “We’re tired of getting shot and killed and locked up for nothing. So we put them differences to the side.”
A group photo of the group posted to a blackpantherparty_sd Instagram account adds: “This is what unity from all sides looks like to keep police accountable for their actions. We’re patrolling the street to ensure police stops are conducted properly and safely.”
Arrests of cop-watchers throughout the country, including those who film police, are not uncommon. Neither are lawsuits that follow.
There’s one involving a local resident from farther north in San Diego County who alleges he was arrested for filming police in the city of Escondido: