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OAKLAND — Fired Oakland cop Clarence "Chuck" Mabanag used rough language on the stand Tuesday to describe his time on the police force and his training of a rookie cop whose resignation led to two misconduct trials against the so-called Riders.
Mabanag told jurors Tuesday that Keith Batt, the officer who reported alleged misconduct by the Riders after just a few weeks on the job, was small, afraid and unprepared for the violence
and stress of police work.
Mabanag, a former Marine, testified that he used profanity toward Batt in an attempt to humble the recruit and teach him that Oakland can be a harsh city.
"Did you ever call Keith Batt a b---- or a little b----?" defense attorney Mike Rains asked Mabanag.
"Yes, sir, I did," Mabanag said.
Mabanag denied allegations that he doctored a police report about a violent arrest in West Oakland that occurred during Batt's first night on the street.
But Mabanag admitted to "dusting off" the suspect's statements, which he defined as suggesting statements that were favorable toward police.
"Dusting off" reports is standard practice in the police department, Mabanag said.
Three officers known as the Riders — Mabanag, Jude Siapno and Matt Hornung, are
charged with a total of 15 felony counts, including filing false police reports, conspiring to obstruct justice, assault and battery, and kidnapping.
Also charged was former officer Frank Vasquez, who is believed to have fled the country before trial.
The first Riders trial ended last year with the jury acquitting the defendants on eight charges and deadlocking on 27 other counts. Mabanag is accused of teaching rookie officers to rough up drug suspects and then lie about it in reports.
Rains, himself a former cop, portrayed Mabanag as someone well acquainted with the ugly realities of drugs and crime
in Oakland.
Mabanag testified that he bought drugs — crack, heroin and pot — dozens of times while working on stings as an undercover officer.
The former officer also told jurors that he shot four suspects, one fatally, during his 11 years on the force.
In 1992, Mabanag killed a man who reportedly pointed a gun at him and another officer from the roof of a building on Pearl Street. While an undercover officer in 1995, Mabanag shot an assault pistol out of the hand of a convicted cocaine dealer in a Fruitvale neighborhood.
Mabanag also testified that he was forced to shoot six dogs while
on the job.
During Batt's first night on the job, Mabanag threatened to shoot another dog, which led to a brawl between the two officers and the dog's owner, Kenneth Soriano.
Mabanag and Batt had arrived at a home on Adeline Street that night to take a police report about a stolen car. Soriano's dog was chained in the yard of the home.
Mabanag testified that he said to Soriano, "I don't want to come in your yard because if your dog gets loose I'll have to shoot it."
Moments later, the officers were struggling with an enraged Soriano, Mabanag said.
Batt, now on the Pleasanton police
force, has testified that Mabanag falsified his report of the fight.
Mabanag denied that, but admitted "dusting off" the report to make Soriano's statements more favorable to officers.
During the arrest, Batt "just looked terrified," Mabanag said. "He was just hanging on Mr. Soriano's arm."
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