Whipped Cream Difficulties

Somebody has been looking very closely at California police departments.

Five San Francisco police officers and a former officer have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges including extortion, dealing drugs, stealing computers and other property from suspects and searching residential hotels without legal justification.

The criminal indictments appear to be a result of this series of events:

Officers Arshad Razzak, 41, Richard Yick, 36, and Raul Eric Elias, 44, all formerly assigned to the Southern police station at the city’s Hall of Justice, are accused of conspiring to threaten and intimidate residents of single-room occupancy hotel rooms by entering them without legal justification by using a master key.

Razzak and Yick are also accused of falsifying incident reports.

Sgt. Ian Furminger, 47, Officer Edmond Robles, 46, and former Officer Reynaldo Vargas, 45, of Palm Desert, engaged in “multiple criminal conspiracies,” including dealing marijuana, stealing money, a $500 Apple gift card, and other items from suspects, and stealing money, drugs and other valuable items that were seized on behalf of the city, the indictment said.

Other high points:

• Razzak, Elias and Yick were sued by “two men and a woman” for violating their civil rights after a 2012 arrest. “The suit was settled earlier this year for an undisclosed sum.”
• “Furminger was one of three police officers named in a 2005 lawsuit in which a man said officers caught him urinating in the street, then forced him to kneel down and use his hair to mop up after himself. The city settled the suit for $83,000.”
• Furminger also received the Gold Medal for Valor as a result of a 1998 shooting.
• Former officer Vargas was fired by the SFPD “for putting in for overtime while testifying in court cases during regular hours”, and has a lawsuit pending against the department.
• “In 2002, Vargas was suspended for six months after being accused of gouging a man’s face with a broken crack pipe after he took him off a cable car for fare evasion. He admitted in 2005 to using excessive force, and the city paid the victim $60,000 to settle a lawsuit.”
• The San Francisco Public Defender has a YouTube channel. You can watch excerpts of their surveillance videos at the above link.