CA Heroes Beat Woman Over Seatbelt Violation

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A Valencia, CA woman has sued the city of Carlsbad and several of its officers over allegations that she was pinned to the ground and punched by police in 2013.

Cindy Hahn said the incident on July 31 – a day she calls the worst one of her life – was caught on cellphone video.

The footage Hahn alleges captured her on the ground with one officer on top of her and a second officer repeatedly hitting her in the head.

Hahn says her children screamed and watched from the car. She says her son still talks about it.

“The only thing that he’ll talk to me about is, ‘I couldn’t protect you, Mom. I could’ve. I could’ve got him off you. I could have helped you,’ ” she said.

Hahn is a mother, wife, and daughter of a retired officer.

She says it all started after she asked a Carlsbad police officer what was going on as he stood in front of a car with its doors open and the vehicle’s alarm blaring.

“And he says, ‘Is this your car?’ And I said, ‘No, sir.’ And he says, ‘Then mind your own [expletive] business,’ ” she said.

Stunned, Hahn says she told a man nearby what the officer said and together they decided she should do something about it so she started to take video.

She alleges that the officer continued cursing at her, which led her to call police to report him. She then left.

Moments later, Hahn says that same officer pulled her car over she for a seat belt violation she was told.

Within seconds she says she was pinned to the ground. She alleges that things got more violent when backup arrived. She says the memory still haunts her.

“I can feel hands on me. It’s the weirdest feeling,” she said.

This July, two years later, the San Diego District Attorney dropped felony charges against Hahn for resisting arrest and battery on a peace officer.

Her attorney, Mark Geragos, says the video was all it took.

“Never seen a police tactics expert testify that what you need to do is slug a female in the face,” he said.

Hahn is now suing the city of Carlsbad and the police officers involved. Geragos says they want the police officers fired and reform at the police department.

Hahn’s dad, meanwhile, who is retired now from the San Fernando Police Department says he’s offended by these fellow officers. He says his expertise tells him this never should have happened.

“There was no need to punch her in the face when he ran up on the scene. There was no need to punch her any further. All he did was deliver a lot of punishment that was totally unnecessary,” Mike
Dalton, Hahn’s father, said.

CBS2/KCAL9 reached out to the Carlsbad Police Department several times this weekend, but the department has not yet responded to a request for comment.

The City of Carlsbad, however, issued the following statement:

“The City of Carlsbad looks forward to bringing this lawsuit before the proper judicial authorities as soon as possible. We are prepared to provide a complete and detailed account of the facts of this incident in a courtroom, not in the media.”

In responding to the statement from Carlsbad, Geragos said: “Last time they brought this case in a courtroom the District Attorney dismissed their case … the DA fired them.”

7 COMMENTS

  1. I like how her dad, the cop, doesn’t even mention the fact that he pursued her to simply beat her and “teach her a lesson”. He’s probably done the same, just didn’t keep on punching. Rarely does a bad apple fall far from the tree.

    • Yup, it never matters that cops bend the law a “little” (or even a lot) as they do their “jobs”. Most do it everyday, some may not even know sometimes what they do is technically unlawful (on paper anyway, somewhere). Even if they do, they may not give a sh*t.

      It doesn’t help they are allowed to lie to you (if it helps build a case) as well. Many think that gives them carte blanche to other things they have no right to do.

      Most cops bank on the fact that the average person doesn’t know that cops have very narrow rules (on paper anyway, once again) to even detain someone. That most cops pass that point pretty fast, and that in order to keep you around, you have to volunteer to stay. Most people need to learn not to be that volunteer.

      People need to know and to ask this question of cops.

      “Am I free to go, or am I being detained? Yes, or no officer”.

      It’s a yes or no question, and many cops will try to dodge that.

      If they say yes, get the hell out of there.

      Sometimes when they know you know the law as good as they do, they know they will have more trouble if they continue with you then just letting you move on. The encounter between you and the officer may not even be “unfriendly”.

      If they don’t answer you the yes or no, the answer is no, even if it is unlawful and there is little you can do about it. Remember he has a gun, and you probably don’t. Then being polite, even if the cop is being an a**, may be the only way to walk away without a ticket, arrest or getting injured or killed.

  2. Amazing that I still meet people that think ‘seat belt violations’ are something that police should be enforcing.

    I mean, I still get the ‘it’s to keep you saaaaafe’ nonsense. I fail to see how they don’t see the irony of enforcing said law meant to keep ‘only you’ safe at the barrel of a gun.

    There are countless examples of how seat belt violations can lead to summary execution. In a perverse way Cindy Hahn got off easy in comparison.

    • There is a cop in my neck of the woods that’s thinks its okey dokey to break out somebody’s window and taze him for not wearing their belt. The city of course is being sued over it, and it will cost taxpayers a bundle, but no matter, the mayor supports the police, so the man in blue (actually black uniforms now, since black is more intimidating then blue) will continue to think that way.

      • The mayor is in the hip pocket of the police union. They should be outlawed under RICO and their officers doing hard time in a Federal Penitentiary.

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