Man to enter plea in cop-assault case
June 01, 2003
Suspect allegedly attacked officers on school campus while classes were in session
By Kim Santos, STAFF WRITER
PLEASANTON – A 39-year-old Pleasanton man is scheduled to enter a plea in Superior Court on Wednesday to a felony charge of battery on a school employee and a misdemeanor count of battery with injury on a police officer. The man, who is being held at Santa Rita county jail in lieu of $15,000 bail, was arrested May 20 after police responded to reports of an unauthorized person riding his mountain bike on the Vintage Hills Elementary School campus in Pleasanton. According to court documents, about 7:20 a.m. custodian Luis Moreira began using a leaf blower to clean the basketball courts. The man approached Moreira, yelling, “Turn off the blower!” Moreira became fearful, shut off his equipment and walked to the gym. Meanwhile, a fourth-grade teacher was watching from inside his classroom and called 9-1-1. Pleasanton Police Officer Brian Grover was dis-patched to the school, where the man began pacing, telling Grover “this was his world and I could not judge him,” Grover wrote in his report.
The man then asked for Grover’s gun because he wanted to shoot a piece of playground equipment. As time went on, he became more agitated and began advancing on Grover, court records said. After backing away and telling the man to calm down several times, Grover was forced to use his pepper spray twice. It seemed to have no effect, and teachers watching from their classrooms reported seeing the man take a martial arts stance against Grover. Finally, the man attacked, kicking Grover in the stomach, hitting him in the head and scratching his arm, court records said. Grover called for emergency backup as Pleasanton Unified School District Security Officer Ron Mahler jumped in, got the man in a headlock and wrestled him to the ground.
Officers Jeff Laugero and Manuel
Basbas, Sgts. Craig Eicher and Brian Laurence, and detectives Jon Blanchard and Daly Harnish arrived on the scene and proceeded to roll the man over to handcuff him. The subject then bit Mahler’s bicep, drawing blood. Police eventually were able to place the man in a “wrap” restraint device and put a nylon stocking over his face to prevent spitting. Laugero wrote in a report that he heard the man yell, “Kill them all,” and say something about hearing music. Later at the hospital, the man told officer Basbas he was going to “kill all of you … you’ll see, I’ll kill all of you,” according to reports. Mahler drove himself to ValleyCare Medical Center, where he was treated and released. The subject also was cleared at ValleyCare and booked into jail. Grover was allowed to return to the police station. The man’s wife eventually arrived at the school and told police her husband had been under extreme pressure at work and had been acting as though he were going to have a nervous breakdown.
That same day, the school notified parents of the situation via e-mail, auto-dialer phone message and letters distributed to students, and reminded them not to drop off their children in the morning before supervision could be provided. The man was arraigned May 28 before Judge Hugh Walker, who set bail at$15,000 on the conditions that the man take medication, follow doctor orders and stay away from the school. Walker also ordered the man be tested for HIV.
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