Former East Bay Cop Is a Flight Risk, Judge Rules in Jailing Him Until Sentencing

Former Antioch police officer Morteza Amiri will be held in custody while awaiting sentencing, a federal judge ordered Tuesday afternoon after he was convicted of two charges in a split verdict last week.

“The court finds that Mr. Amiri is a flight risk and is a risk to the community,” Senior U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled, remanding Amiri to custody.

He was convicted Friday of violating one man’s rights by using excessive force with his police K-9 in 2019 and of later falsifying the police report about that incident, in which he omitted that another off-duty officer was present. He was acquitted of two additional excessive force charges, as well as a broader charge that he participated with other officers in a conspiracy to use unlawful force against Antioch residents over a three-year period.

Amiri’s attorney, Paul Goyette, asked the court to consider an ankle monitor or other form of detention until his sentencing, saying it was likely that being jailed in Alameda County would be dangerous for him, given his status as a former police officer.

White, however, said that Goyette did not meet the burden of proof to show that Amiri would be neither a flight risk nor a risk to the community if he were allowed to remain out of custody until his sentencing.

Amiri’s “stated fear of treatment by inmates that he arrested” added to his status as a flight risk, White said, but the judge added that the court informed jailers of Amiri’s former job and will “inform them that they should take appropriate measures” to ensure his safety.

Amiri’s case stemmed from a larger police corruption scandal within the Antioch and Pittsburg police departments that was made public in 2023. The federal investigation revealed a trove of racist and violent text messages sent between officers. Amiri was also convicted last year with five other officers who schemed to obtain fraudulent college degrees for a pay raise.

As evidence of his risk to the community, White cited texts that Amiri sent, which included “pride over inflicting pain and sending people to the hospital” and his “use of slurs, which indicates that he dehumanizes suspects.” He also mentioned the “savagery” of the K-9 attack on Adrian Arroyo, for which Amiri was convicted of the excessive force charge.

Amiri’s K-9, Purcy, bit Arroyo after Amiri stopped him for riding his bicycle without any lights after dark. Arroyo resisted Amiri, prompting Amiri to bring him to the ground.

Former police officer Timothy Manly Williams, Amiri’s then-roommate and an officer with a different department, testified at trial that he was with Amiri at the time of the attack and opened the door of Amiri’s police vehicle to let Purcy out after Arroyo tried to resist being stopped.

In text messages sent to colleagues later, Amiri said that his approach to Arroyo “was a stretch and he was glad he did not need to defend the use of his K9 in court.” He also acknowledged omitting Manly Williams’ participation in the encounter when he wrote his police report.

Amiri’s sentencing is set for June 3. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the deprivation of rights charge and 20 years for falsifying the police report.