Two East Palo Alto police officers accused of beating up a resident for offering to sell them crack cocaine were acquitted of all charges Tuesday. Officer Eddie Rivers wiped back tears when the jury's decision was read after a little more than four hours of deliberation. "We're very relieved and very happy with the verdict,'' said Rivers, 39.
Prosecutors said Rivers and Taflinger, who were off duty the night of Aug. 21, 2004, were drunk and became enraged when Brooks offered to sell them crack as they sat in a friend's sport-utility vehicle outside an East Palo Alto 7-Eleven. Afterward, both he and officer Johnny Taflinger exchanged hugs and high-fives with a handful of uniformed and plain-clothes police officers who showed up to support them. The pair faced felony charges of assault and misdemeanor charges of battery, which could have sent them to prison for four years. But the state's case was weakened by its main witnesses: Calvin Brooks, the alleged victim and an admitted drug user, and David Carson, a fellow East Palo Alto police officer who helped build the case against the two but had credibility issues of his own. Brooks testified that the officers chased him down and kicked him so severely that he had to go to the emergency room. But Saam said jurors did not believe Brooks had injuries consistent with the attack as he described it, and he later filed a civil suit against the officers and the city which defense attorneys said proved he was in it for the money.Brooks was not in court for the verdict. Another man involved in the alleged attack, 20-year-old police Explorer Scout Eddi Tapia Torres, still faces criminal prosecution. [MORE] and [MORE] and [MORE]