The video below has been released in a lawsuit over a highly disturbing case where a Riverside undercover officer befriended a 17-year-old boy with autism and convinced him to buy pot for him. They then arrested him and added him to their list of drug war statistics. Before the arrest, in addition to autism, their son had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Tourette syndrome and anxiety disorders.
The teenager was one of 21 other high school students arrested on drug-dealing charges as part of a sting operation last December at Chaparral High School in Temecula, Calif. and neighboring schools. His parents, Catherine and Doug Snodgrass, are suing the Temecula Valley School District, alleging negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. They say that their son has autism and did not have friends. That made him an ideal target for the undercover officer who befriended him. His parents were excited that he had made a friend. The video from the arrest is heart-breaking when the kid realized that Deputy Daniel Zipperstein of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in uniform was his friend, Daniel.
They say that Zipperstein hounded their son to sell him marijuana or his prescription medication and that after more than three weeks of constant pressure, the teen bought a half-joint from a homeless man and gave it to the officer. Half a joint. He then was convinced to make a second small buy but then refused to do it again. He was then arrested. Quite a trophy.
The parents say that the autistic teen is still reeling from the betrayal and arrest, including insomnia, panic attacks, depression, paranoia and infliction of self-injury, his parents said.
The Riverside Sheriff’s office has brushed aside the public outcry over the case and said that it “followed all pertinent laws and the case was reviewed by the DA’s Office. Had there been entrapment issues, the DA’s Office would not have filed the case.” In such case, the need for reform includes both the police and prosecutors.
What a load of crap from the local cops and DA. This isn’t just unjust IT IS STUPID!! Hopefully the voters will send a message it the polls to the DA and the High Sheriff. My late brother was a Texas prosecutor for his entire professional life and would never
stood for this kind of misconduct by the police.
Undercover officers are supposed to catch criminals in the act, not entice any law-abiding citizens to break the law. Entrapment.
This makes me so furious, especially since this can have life-long, lasting effects on such a vulnerable child. I would be afraid he would commit suicide.
I rarely say this, but they should sue the pants off of anyone involved.
Something similar happened in a case where my mom served as a juror. It was a sting that caught a man who met an undercover officer, whom he thought was 16, for a tryst at a hotel. When she heard the charges, she thought guilty. But it turns out the man was a very young, sheltered Muslim who was on a student visa for college. He had zero friends, was very shy and naive, and had never spoken with a girl before. His culture typically arranged marriages between couples who could only start dating when they got engaged. He was just on a regular chat room when the officer targeted him. She became his online friend, and then kept begging to meet him. He kept putting her off, saying it wouldn’t be proper to meet. But she was his only friend. She said if he didn’t meet her she wouldn’t be his friend anymore. So he finally said, sure, but he didn’t want to sleep with her. She said she would only meet him if he brought certain “items” from a particular type of store. She said they could play it by ear when he got there. They arrested him. There are so many real predators out there, I could not believe they wasted 6 months begging and pleading with a normal guy to try to make him break the law. The jury unanimously acquitted him.
Do police even know they have lost the respect of the populace?
Of course everything was “followed all pertinent laws”. Just because there isn’t a law preventing something, doesn’t mean that it isn’t immoral. ATF did the same thing during one of their gun running schemes. Hire mentally disabled men, give them money and cigarettes, and then arrest them when they actually bring the guns the agents asked them to.
The immorality of far too many in law enforcement where the ends justify the means gives the good cops a bad name. Worse is that the entire law enforcement community now thinks THEY are the ones being wronged by the public shining a spotlight on disgusting behavior done by police in the name of the war on drugs.
Just more proof that our drug “war” is crazy and destructive to we the people. Should the parents sue, absolutely, will it cost the city? Yep. Will it change? Hopefully some day. Just today there was a great article on the cost of police malfeasance (http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/imagine-what-we-could-buy-if-we-didnt-have-spend-billions-police-brutality-cases?paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark).
Officer Friendly turned out to be not so friendly. Great way to have our youth respect police isn’t it?
Yeah, I’m gonna agree with Rick here and throw it out there – in the suburbs of Baltimore, the police stings involving drugs were going after heroin and cocaine. If you’re spending time making a sting operation to catch kids buying and selling less than a gram of weed, your county is lucky. And you should stop doing even that because you’ve succeeded in eliminating real crime.
Gobsmacked. I am appalled and sickened. I find myself unable to breathe over this horrendous conduct. That poor kid! The #AutismSpeaks people must be outraged as well. From the top down, the Riverside system needs to be purged and disinfected. Let’s hope the community continues to protest and demand changes until something is actually done.
Riverside must be the safest community in the country if their cops have the time to conduct this type of activity. Yessiree, I would feel real safe living there with the likes of Deputy Dan on duty.
The individual cops are not the basest of the offenders. The real criminals are those in the police department who set up this up, also the school administrators who let the cops review the students’ files. All charges against the students should be dropped with profound apologies from the prosecutors, best expressed through the payment of damages to each student who was targeted. In addition, the feds should drop this department from their list of police departments who get federal funds to expand their efforts. This department obtained its funds through fraud and it misused the funds it received.
We need police. We need to arrest predatory drug traffickers. We need to get rid of idiots on the police force. There must be some way to filter out dangerous idiots like Deputy Dan. The problem is that suing the City of Riverside and/or the police department works against the society as it curtails funds necessary for the safeguarding of society. Perhaps the way to deal with this is through attrition, fire Deputy Dan, fire his supervisor or whom ever can be found to have authorized the program, and keep moving more intelligent and educated people up the line. If an officer is threatened with losing his job then perhaps he or she will take the time to think about the threat to society instead of being the threat to society.
If the facts as laid out are true, this officer and department should be sued under the ADA, the CRA, and a nice 1983 action to cement the COAs. The DOJ should investigate as well as the states attorney general. This is BS and they should be called out for this action.
Gee, talk about hunting over bait! But I guess it is safer for the cops than arresting MS 13 members. OTOH, a lot of high schoolers need a wake up call on drugs.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporters
Reblogged this on Dead Citizen's Rights Society.
Cruelty 101.
The video clearly points out the underlying reason for the bizarre enforcement is to get easy arrests to increase the numbers needed for federal grant money. There is no regard for the lives destroyed. The DA supports the local police greed….shock. They target kids not likely to be able to afford a defense.
Definitely seems like entrapment. I mean, they targeted a kid who probably had trouble making friends, and then got him to do something he’d never do on his own.
Also, isn’t this what drug dealers do? They target the “weak” and get them to work for them.
“They then arrested him and added him to their list of drug war statistics.”
Of course, public sector unions will not stand for going after police corruption, but the VA Hospital is fair game.
Isn’t this a demonstration of entrapment?
Pretty disgusting.
So much for our “heroes” in blue.
Obviously the Riverside PD is overmanned – needs to have its funding cut.
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