Former Santa Ana officer faces federal charges for allegedly using ‘unreasonable force’ during 2014 arrest

A retired Santa Ana officer has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly using unreasonable force during an arrest and then lying about the incident in official reports.

Brian Patrick Booker, 50, of Chino Hills is facing a felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law and two felony counts of falsification of records after violating a suspect’s rights during a June 2014 arrest, the federal indictment alleges.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Booker used “unreasonable force” on a man who was not resisting arrest. The former officer falsely claimed that the man had “reached toward Booker and grabbed Booker by his right leg,” prosecutors allege, and claimed he had “delivered three or four punches to the back of the victim’s head because he believed the victim was about to tackle him and possibly have access to Booker’s firearm.”

Booker retired last year, ending a 19-year career with the Santa Ana Police Department, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Booker could not be reached for comment. Santa Ana police officials said the department is cooperating with the federal investigation.

Santa Ana Police Department officials said the alleged civil rights allegations stemmed from the arrest of a man who was suspected of trying to “enter a community member’s residence,” and who was ultimately taken into custody on suspicion of attempted burglary.

Booker was placed on desk duty after the allegations of excessive force emerged, according to the Santa Ana Police Department, and an internal affairs investigation was launched. That internal investigation was put on hold when the police department was notified of the FBI investigation, police officials said.

The man Booker is alleged to have used unreasonable force against is identified in the federal indictment only by the initials “E.A.” But the date of the arrest, as well as the information description of the incident by authorities, appears to match the case of Edgar Vargas-Arzate, which drew widespread attention in 2014 after footage of his arrest taken from a security camera at a Santa Ana home became public.

The video of Vargas-Arzate’s arrest showed a half-dozen officers punching him and striking him with a baton while apparently struggling to hold him down. The case also sparked an immigration debate, after Vargas-Arzate was taken into custody by immigration officials while on his way to a court hearing, leading some protesters to accuse Santa Ana police of tipping off federal immigration officials, allegations both ICE and the Santa Ana Police Department repeatedly denied.

There were previous indications that the Vargas-Arzate arrest had drawn federal scrutiny.

First, in October 2014, a government document classifying Vargas-Arzate as the victim of a “felonious assault” was released by his immigration attorney. Then, in July 2015, attorneys for the city of Santa Ana in a court filing related to a civil lawsuit revealed that the officers involved in the Vargas-Arzate arrest were being investigated by a federal grand jury.

The civil lawsuit – in which attorneys for Vargas-Arzate described their client as being the victim of a “brutal beating that took place “without justification” – eventually ended in a settlement with the city, according to federal court records. The terms of that settlement were not immediately clear.

Booker is scheduled to appear at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana for an arraignment on Aug. 12, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.