Video captures Orange County sheriff’s deputy in altercation with drunken man rousted from vehicle

Mohamed Zahangir Sayem, in a drunken haze, was struggling to give Orange County sheriff’s deputies a straight answer when asked for his driver’s license.

Sayem’s confusion grew when a deputy allegedly pulled the 5-foot-11 man out of his vehicle — where he had been sleeping — and punched him until he collapsed.

“Are you going to shoot me?” asked Sayem, 33, laying on his stomach, his hands cuffed behind his back.

“Like to,” said another deputy.

The Aug. 19 incident, captured by a police dash camera, is part of a new court motion filed by Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, who uncovered the “snitch scandal” that rocked Orange County’s justice system in 2014. Sanders showed that prosecutors and deputies for years improperly used jailhouse informants to help obtain convictions.

In Sayem’s case, Sanders alleges Deputy Michael Devitt beat the apparently drunken man in a Stanton alley and then conspired with others to make it appear in the official report that Sayem attacked him.

“The officer decided that despite having violently beaten Mr. Sayem without justification, the best response was to fabricate Mr. Sayem’s responsibility,” Sanders said. “The only people who should be charged in this case are those who wear uniforms every day. The district attorney should immediately dismiss the charges against Mr. Sayem.”

Sayem faces a felony charge of resisting an officer with threat or violence.

Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Department, said it was Sayem who escalated the situation and that the video is consistent with the deputy’s report.

“A review of the full video indicates that the deputy made every attempt to de-escalate the situation and provide the subject multiple opportunities to simply provide his identification,” Braun said. “The subject refused to do so and attempted to physically engage the deputy, during which the deputy used force appropriate for the situation to gain control of an uncooperative, assaultive and intoxicated person.”

She continued: “Any assertion otherwise substantially misrepresents the facts, and serves only to swell an anti-law enforcement narrative.”

According to the video and the court motion, Devitt and Deputy Eric Ota questioned Sayem in the predawn darkness, asking him for his identification. Sayem appears not to understand and jokes with the deputies.

At one point, Devitt pushes against Sayem’s arm, in an attempt to keep him inside the vehicle.

“Don’t touch me like that,” Sayem snaps at Devitt. The deputy then appears to grab Sayem, who holds onto the steering wheel, and yanks him out of the vehicle. Devitt repeatedly punches Sayem in the face, until the suspect collapses. Ota appears to help restrain Sayem.

Devitt’s supervisor, Sgt. Christopher Hibbs, arrives at the scene and is told by Devitt that he pulled the suspect out of the vehicle and Sayem tried to bear hug him. The conversation is caught on the sergeant’s body microphone.

Later, Devitt wrote in his official report — which was approved by Hibbs — that Sayem got out of the vehicle and grabbed the deputy’s vest.

“Due to his aggressive demeanor … I believed Sayem was going to continue to try and physically assault me,” Devitt reported.

Sanders wrote, “It reads like an unforgettable fear-inspiring moment for an officer left with no option but to use defensive violence. However, Devitt was lying.”

The report also does not contain Ota’s statement that he would “like to” shoot Sayem.

Sanders notes that, years earlier, Sgt. Hibbs was charged with a felony after Tasing a handcuffed man in the backseat of a patrol car in 2007. The case was hobbled by the reluctance of other deputies to testify. Prosecutors dropped the charges after a jury voted 11-1 to acquit, resulting in a mistrial.

“OCSD placed Hibbs in a role where he could use his specialized experience and knowledge to help fellow officers defeat righteous excessive force claims and keep unwanted truths behind the thin blue line,” Sanders wrote.

His motion asks a judge for access to Devitt’s personnel file as part of Sayem’s criminal case.