Deputies botched deadly 2012 eviction, brief claims

A 2012 ambush that took the lives of a deputy sheriff, a locksmith and the distraught occupant they were trying to evict from a Modesto fourplex was “horrible and inexcusable” but “also entirely preventable,” reads a new document in a wrongful-death lawsuit against Stanislaus County and its Sheriff’s Department.

The slain deputy and his partner, who was not shot, “needlessly placed (locksmith Glendon) Engert directly in the line of fire, knowing full well the particular danger of the situation,” says the brief, filed by Engert’s survivors in hopes that the case will proceed to trial in federal court in August.

“This case is neither about hindsight nor shifting blame from the murderer,” the paper reads, referring to Jim Ferrario, who committed suicide surrounded by an arsenal of deadly weapons during a lengthy standoff as the fourplex was consumed in an inferno. “Rather, it is about holding peace officers accountable for their callous and deliberate indifference to the safety, indeed the very lives, of their fellow officers and the civilians they are sworn to protect.”

Attorneys representing the county last month asked a judge to throw out the case, saying officers could not predict that Ferrario would open fire and that the officers should be granted immunity. Deputy Bob Paris, 53, would not have stood in harm’s way outside Ferrario’s locked security door on Chrysler Drive if he had known the danger lurking inside, the county contends.

The response brief, filed on behalf of Engert’s widow and parents, says the deputies and their supervisor made lethal mistakes given a wealth of warnings about Ferrario’s instability and military-grade weapons.

A Sheriff’s Department clerk who may have participated in as many as 1,125 threat-assessment telephone calls each year for four years had never approached a deputy with specific information as she did with Paris the day before he was killed, the brief says. And her supervisor, now-retired Sgt. Manuel Martinez, told investigators “he had never in his career seen as many threats” associated with a property, the paper says.

Martinez had taken extra precautions such as calling for backup for a tricky eviction he helped serve in 2011. But before the Chrysler ambush on April 12, 2012, he directed the clerk only to highlight warnings on written information given to Paris and his now-retired partner, Mike Glinskas, the brief says.

Glinskas, Paris’ estate, Martinez and Lt. Cliff Harper are defendants along with the county and Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Adam Christianson was released from the lawsuit earlier this year, and the fourplex’s owner paid $230,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

Martinez failed to reassign or provide more training for Paris, the paper says, despite Paris’ “long history of unsafe practices” and “poor hearing.” Details were blacked out in redacted portions running more than seven pages, but investigations previously made public found fault with sheriff’s management for failing to address Paris’ cavalier approach; he was observed in other evictions whistling, talking on a cellphone and searching with hands in pockets.

When the clerk alerted Paris to warnings about the Chrysler property, he replied, “Whatever,” a probe found.

Martinez, the brief says, should have known that “sending an incompetent, contemptuous and dangerous subordinate on an assignment where there is a known risk of severe harm violates constitutional standards of official conduct.”

A judge has allowed redaction of significant portions of court documents because parties contend that “confidentiality outweighs the interests in public disclosure” of sheriff’s personnel information.

Despite red flags, “the deputies never warned (Engert) a single time about the threats and information they possessed about the occupant of this home,” the brief says. When Engert, 35, paused at hearing something inside the unit, the deputies listened and then told him to keep working, the lawsuit says.

Another deputy who had been reassigned shortly before the Chrysler ambush told investigators that it was “standard practice for years” to position locksmiths “to the side of the door, even though it made drilling the locks more difficult,” the brief says. But Paris and Glinskas had Engert directly in front of the door with the lock he was trying to disable, essentially placing him “directly in the funnel of death,” the document reads.

“We do not approach the door with civilians,” former Deputy Mike Veil, also since retired, is quoted as saying. “If we get up there and something bad happens, and shooting starts or whatever, we don’t want a civilian hurt. I mean, that’s why we’re there. That’s our job.”

Paris and Glinskas violated department protocol by directing Engert to start drilling before the new property owner arrived, the brief claims. Deputies were trained to wait at least 10 minutes, but Paris was anxious to stay on schedule, the paper says, noting that the deputies anticipated serving an additional eviction before lunch.

The new owner would have been able to share an assumption that Ferrario still occupied the unit, the brief says. “This guy’s down to go down with his ship,” the owner’s agent had said, and he knew how to spot Ferrario’s vehicle parked on the street, which the deputies overlooked.

The brief notes that the deputies had undergone safety training a few short hours before Paris and Engert were gunned down. Martinez told investigators “it never occurred to him to discuss the threats” received about the Chrysler property during that training and “felt he had no obligation to speak with” the deputies because they hadn’t approached him, the paper says.

Other courts have determined that immunity “must not be used to prevent officials from being held accountable when they exercise their power irresponsibly,” the brief reads.

“Paris and Glinskas were armed with weapons and information,” the document says. “The cautious Engert, unarmed and untrained, was not.” Had he known what the deputies knew, “the last place he would have allowed himself to be placed was in front of that door,” the brief says.

This story was originally published April 14, 2015 at 11:23 AM with the headline "Deputies botched deadly 2012 eviction, brief claims."