Rancho Cordova cop wants his job back after being fired for punching teen

Officer Brian Fowell, who was fired from the Rancho Cordova Police Department after an investigation into a use-of-force incident earlier this year, has appealed his termination in an effort to get his job back, his attorney told The Bee.

Fowell was terminated by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office — which has a contract to provide law enforcement for the city of Rancho Cordova — when a professional standards unit investigation concluded Fowell used excessive force against a 14-year-old boy.

The incident was captured in a cellphone video less than a minute long and spread like wildfire across social media, garnering over 9 million views, and at one point even retweeted by California Senator and Vice President nominee Kamala Harris.

The family of the teen, identified as Elijah Tufono, called the incident a “beating” at the time.

But Fowell’s attorney, William Creger, says there is much more to this incident, and to Fowell, than the 14 second video.

Fowell is not new to the beat or a rookie in law enforcement. After serving as an officer for eight years, Fowell had a “squeaky clean” record prior to the April 27 incident and was a “solid” cop, Creger said.

Fowell’s record clean before incident

“He deeply cared about the community he was patrolling, he really tried to establish relationships in the community,” Creger said. “He just really cared about his job, and improving conditions, and having a good relationship between the community and law enforcement. He’s just a really, really solid guy.”

Fowell was awarded employee of the quarter in 2019. That same year, he also earned a life-saving medal when he performed CPR on a young girl who was dying in front her family. He saved her life, Creger said.

After a review of law enforcement records already released under SB 1421 — a new state law requiring greater transparency by law enforcement agencies — Fowell had no sustained complaints of excessive force producing great bodily injury or dishonesty.

A Sacramento Bee request for the Sheriff’s Office investigation into the April 27 incident was denied, saying “IA files are part of a peace officer’s personnel file and are not public record. Additionally, this particular case does not fall under SB 1421,” Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Sgt. Tess Deterding said in an email.

The Sheriff’s Office contracts with Rancho Cordova for police services.

Creger said the Sheriff’s Office cited excessive force as their reason for termination, taking specific issue with the “distraction blows” Fowell used against Tufono.

A distraction blow is a direct strike or kick that is used to distract a suspect long enough for the officer to gain control or compliance.

In the cellphone video, Fowell can be seen pushing Tufono’s head into the ground as he tries to turn the teen onto his stomach. When the boy doesn’t turn over and instead moves onto his back again, Fowell strikes Tufono in the abdomen twice. He then grabs Tufono’s right wrist and jerks him face down on the ground, pinning his arm behind his back.

The day after the incident, Tufono told Fox 40 the officer became confrontational after he handed over illicit tobacco and pulled his hand away when the officer tried to handcuff him.

“I did lie to him and I didn’t cooperate, and I know that and I made that mistake. But that didn’t give him no right to do what he did,” Tufono told Fox 40 at the time.

Termination unusual for Sheriff’s Office

Considering the circumstances, Creger said, Fowell’s termination came as a surprise.

“It’s out of the norm in that we did not anticipate this would be a termination case,” Creger said. “We’re really kind of surprised by the notice of discipline.”

In fact, according to internal documents obtained by The Bee last year, terminations, even when recommended by a supervising officer, are an outlier in the Sheriff’s Office.

For example, in the most controversial case unearthed by the 2019 document release, records detailed an incident in which two deputies who were recommended for termination after using force against a jail inmate, to the point other inmates reported hearing his screams, were spared by Sheriff Scott Jones, who doled out lengthy suspensions instead.

The victim in that case reported receiving $1,000 check from the county’s third-party claims adjuster in return for a signature releasing the county from all future claims

From 2014 through 2018, the Sheriff’s Office reported 414 abuse complaints or investigations involving inmates, and that 35 complaints were “sustained.” Of those, 15 were generated by deputies or supervisors reporting their concerns about an incident. None of the deputies were fired.

The files show that deputies found to have used unnecessary force or to have violated policies were almost always recommended for letters of reprimand, demotion or suspension.

Attorney contends rule changed after the fact

In Fowell’s case, Creger said, the day after he was interviewed for the investigation, sheriff’s officials sent Fowell a memorandum saying essentially it was a reminder that distraction blows are not permitted.

“That was news to Brian and plenty of other deputies that I know,” he said. “And the default is that departments normally don’t restrain what deputies can do if they perceive for example if they’re fighting for their life or they’re trying to apprehend somebody. They can always do what’s reasonable under the circumstances.”

“So in some circumstances, punching somebody is absolutely not appropriate and in other cases it is appropriate,” he added. “So it’s a little weird of (the Sheriff’s Office) to take a hard-line stance and say ‘you cannot do this first of all.’

“Their position is that distraction strikes are never allowed and our position is it depends on the circumstances, and that’s a new rule as far as we’re concerned and it was implemented after the event happened,” Creger said.

Ed Obayashi, a Plumas County Sheriff’s deputy and use-of-force expert, said distraction blows are a standard use-of-force option that deputies and officers are trained in.

When Fowell contacted Tufono on April 27, Fowell suspected illegal sales of alcohol, tobacco and drugs to minors. When he asked Tufono’s name, the teen gave a false name and then became “physically resistive,” according to a Sheriff’s Office news release at the time.

Two weeks earlier, Fowell had been in a nearly identical situation that devolved to hand-to-hand fighting with an armed fugitive. Creger said the experience shook Fowell.

In the incident with Tufono, Fowell did not know if the teen was armed, and his punches were an effort to gain compliance, Obayashi said. “He had a duty to end this as soon as possible.”

Tufono’s family disagreed, saying in April that the punches were unjustified. Requests for comment sent to several members of the Tufono family were not returned Thursday.

Fowell’s case will enter the appeal process with the Sheriff’s Office in the coming weeks, and the county will have to prove the allegations against Fowell. The process can last as long as a week, with an independent arbiter acting as judge and jury.

“These guys are people at the end of the day,” Creger said. “And it’s a hard, hard time to be a cop right now.”

This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 3:06 PM.