Sonoma Sheriff Fires Deputy, Releases Graphic Video of Encounter That Led to Driver's Death

Updated 5:45 p.m. Friday

Editor's note: The video embedded in this story depicts violence and contains profanity. Viewer discretion is advised.

In a pair of extraordinary moves Friday, Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick released body-camera video of a fatal encounter between deputies and a man suspected of driving a stolen car, and at the same time announced that he's moving to fire a deputy shown in the video brutalizing the victim.

The sheriff's office had previously reported that Deputy Charles Blount had used a carotid hold to subdue David Glen Ward, 52, of Petaluma, early on the morning of Nov. 27 after a high-speed car chase in a rural area. But the video shows that after a struggle in which Blount and another deputy said Ward bit them, Blount grabbed Ward by the hair and violently smashed his head against the doorframe of his vehicle.

Ward lost consciousness minutes later and stopped breathing, prompting Blount's fellow deputies to attempt CPR before paramedics arrived on the scene. Ward was declared dead shortly afterward at a local hospital.

"If you watch the body-worn camera video closely, you may be concerned by what you saw. So was I," Essick said in a statement at the end of the video. "The way Deputy Blount handles the entire situation is extremely troubling."

Essick announced that he's served Blount, who has been on administrative leave since the incident, with a notice of termination. But the sheriff's office is not releasing documents on Blount's firing at this time, Essick said, citing several ongoing investigations.

The 12-minute video, recorded on a body camera worn by Deputy Jason Little, depicts a chase reaching speeds of more than 70 mph that began just before 6 a.m. on the day before Thanksgiving in rural western Sonoma County.

Little was pursuing the vehicle, driven by Ward, because it had been reported stolen in a carjacking several days earlier. Essick said in his Friday account of the incident that Santa Rosa police had alerted his office that the car had been located "and was on the move."

Essick said that although Ward had initially pulled over when deputies tried to stop him, he drove away, prompting the pursuit.

"What our deputies did not know at the time was that Mr. Ward was not only the owner of the car, but the victim of the earlier carjacking," Essick said. "The suspect had pistol-whipped him and stole his car. Mr. Ward had recovered the car, but failed to report it."

"It remains a mystery" why Ward fled instead of stopping and cooperating with deputies, Essick said.

At the end of the chase, on a dead-end street in the community of Bloomfield, the video shows deputies confronting Ward.

In the video, Ward is initially slow in responding to orders to keep his hands in view and has difficulty unlocking the car. He then rolls down the driver's side window and says, "I can't believe this. I'm the injured party here. ... Why are you f___ing harassing me all the time?"

At that point, Blount moves to forcibly remove Ward from his vehicle through the open window. "Give me your hands. Give me your f___ing hands. ... Get the f___ out of the car!" Blount says.

But as Blount tries to drag Ward out of the car, Ward's legs are caught under his steering wheel. He cries out in pain, and both Blount and Little curse, saying Ward has bitten them.

As the struggle continues, Blount grabs Ward by the hair and forces his head against the forward frame of the car door as Ward moans. Seconds later, he pulls Ward's head back and forcefully slams it against the doorframe. At nearly the same moment, Little shocks Ward with a Taser.

Shortly afterwards, the deputies, assisted by a pair of Sebastopol police officers, manage to remove Ward from the car through the front passenger door. As other deputies arrive, one observes that Ward, who had been placed on the ground and handcuffed, is unconscious, prompting a call to paramedics to respond.

One of those arriving on the scene was Deputy Nick Jax, who had spoken to Ward about his stolen car just hours before the chase.

"This is the owner of the car," Jax says. "That's David Ward. He's the victim of the 215 (carjacking)."

"Then why did he run?" Little asks.

"I don't know why he ran," Jax responds. "He had no reason to run. I was out with him like two hours ago at his house."

After hearing Jax's account, Blount says, in a nonchalant tone, "Oh well."

Immediately after that exchange, officers say Ward is no longer breathing, and a deputy starts CPR. Paramedics transported Ward to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The cause of his death is still under investigation.

Essick told KQED he found Blount's "oh well" retort — made while the unconscious Ward lay nearby — "very troubling. ... That does not reflect the values of me as the sheriff of this county, and it does not reflect the values of the 650 other employees that work here."

He said Blount's actions on the video "really warranted a look right away" and that the deputy's behavior raised a host of questions about his response.

“I think some people will look at that to say, wait a second, the guy’s engaging you in conversation, he’s attempting to explain the situation," Essick said. "Why didn’t Deputy Blount take that as an indicator to ask more questions? To say, 'Hey, wait a minute, why are you saying you’re the injured party? Whose car is this? Who are you, why are you driving this car?' But none of those questions were asked. Instead of de-escalating the situation, Deputy Blount made a choice to escalate the situation, which resulted in what we have here.”

Essick said his agency's investigation found Blount had violated several department policies, including rules governing use of force, high-risk stops and use of firearms, and was guilty of conduct that brought discredit to the sheriff's office.

Sonoma County-based civil rights attorney Izaak Schwaiger is representing Ward's mother, who he says intends to file a lawsuit against Sonoma County and Blount.

"David's mother is hurting, and she wants justice for her son," Schwaiger said.

He called the video "frightening" and said that he was "somewhat encouraged" by Essick's move to fire Blount. But Schwaiger added that Sonoma County law enforcement officials, including District Attorney Jill Ravitch, should have taken action against Blount years ago.

Schwaiger represented a woman whom Blount arrested in Jan. 2015 for jaywalking and resisting arrest. A video of that encounter shows Blount grabbing the woman around the neck and throwing her to the ground.

The attorney said Ravitch should have taken action against Blount after Blount appeared to give false testimony by denying he had seized the woman by the neck. The judge in the case directed prosecutors to place Blount’s testimony in the district attorney’s files documenting officers with credibility issues.

“Jill Ravitch gave him a pass, despite video evidence and a court order regarding his perjurous testimony,” Schwaiger said. "It was basically her [Ravitch's] exoneration of this very same deputy five years ago that kept him on the force and led to this man’s death today.”

The DA's office declined to comment on whether the video appears to show a crime committed by a sheriff's deputy. It is awaiting a complete criminal investigation by the Santa Rosa Police Department, which is ongoing, the office said.

The office has declined to say whether Blount ever ended up on the DA's Brady List — a record of officers who have committed misconduct. A spokeswoman said such a record of misconduct, however, "would not prevent an officer from being on duty."

Sukey Lewis of KQED News contributed to this report.