For Immediate Release
County Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach releases first audit under new state law
Santa Rosa, CA | April 04, 2023
The Sonoma County Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach today released an audit of a Sheriff’s Office complaint, the first such report to be made public under a new state law for cases involving the use of force against a person by a law enforcement officer that resulted in death or great bodily injury.
The complaint stemmed from an April 2020 incident in which two sheriff’s deputies stunned a Graton man with a Taser, and then released a police dog on him after he was tased and fell to the ground. The man, Jason Anglero-Wyrick, reached a $1.35 million settlement with the county in January following a civil rights lawsuit against the deputies.
The IOLERO audit of the Sheriff’s Office report found that the deputies properly used a Taser in compliance with department policy, however it disputed that the use of the police dog was appropriate. The audit calls on the Sheriff’s Office to consider recommendations made by the IOLERO Community Advisory Committee to change the way the Sheriff’s Office uses police dogs.
“Historically, state law made reports like these confidential, and entirely prohibited release of these reports to the public,” said John Alden, IOLERO director. “Recently, through Senate Bill 1421, the state Legislature created an exception for an incident like this involving great bodily injury. At IOLERO, we are grateful that the state has finally allowed us to make reports like these public, and we will be releasing more reports like these in future.”
The Sheriff’s Office previously released its report of the incident under the same new state law. Their report, including body-worn camera footage, can be seen here.
The IOLERO audit can be seen here.
Media Contact:
Matt Brown, Communications Specialist
575 Administration Drive, Suite 104A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
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