Riders Case: Oakland Police lied, brutalized man, ex-rookie testifies

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  • Whistle-blower says he feared losing job by coming forward
The former rookie Oakland police officer whose accusations set off a criminal probe of four officers known as "the Riders" said at their retrial Monday that he hadn't immediately reported what he saw for fear of losing his job. Keith Batt, 28, described how the ex-officers had forced him to lie on police reports, told him to ignore what he had learned in the police academy and beaten a man so hard that he screamed "at the top of his voice." Batt quit the Oakland force after coming forward and has since flourished as an officer in Pleasanton, where he is a firearms instructor in charge of the department's gun range, member of the SWAT team, drug expert and arson investigator. Under questioning Monday by Deputy District Attorney Terry Wiley, Batt said he had kept quiet at first about the alleged misconduct of the Riders, knowing that if he broke the code of silence and decided to "rat on cops," fellow officers would "turn their back on me." "At that time, I didn't know what to do," said Batt, clad in his police uniform. "I knew what was going on was wrong, but I wanted my job." Former officers Matt Hornung, 33, Clarence "Chuck" Mabanag, 39, and Jude Siapno, 36, watched impassively as Batt testified in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland. A fourth fired officer, Frank Vazquez, the alleged ringleader, is a fugitive. The three defendants are being retried on charges that they assaulted people, falsified police reports and conspired to obstruct justice while patrolling West Oakland in 2000. In September 2003, after the longest criminal trial in county history, a jury acquitted the three of eight charges and deadlocked on the remaining 27 charges. Batt testified Monday that just days into his introduction to street patrol, he had been "forced as a condition of my employment to engage in illegal activity, whether it be falsifying reports or engaging in excessive force." But Batt said he was afraid that Mabanag, his field training officer, could give him negative evaluations and flunk him from the force if the rookie reported the alleged crimes by the Riders. [more]
  • Defense attacks 'Riders' witness [more]