Air Force Captain Assaulted for Not Knowing His Neighbor

Capt. Nicolás Aquino is a model Air Force officer who plans to
devote his entire life to military service. His family fled
Paraguay before he was born and sought refuge in the United States
because of the rights the US Constitution offered. 

However, those rights weren’t afforded to him last December when
Sheriff’s Deputy Ivan Rodriguez physically assaulted Aquino on his
own property. The deputy reportedly believed Aquino was a burgler
even after the Air Force officer repeatedly told Rodriguez he was
the property owner. 

Reason TV first reported on this May 22, 2014. Original write-up
below:

Capt. Nicolás Aquino attends the Naval Post
Graduate School in Monterey, California, and plans to devote his
life to military service. His family fled Paraguay to escape a
brutal dictatorship before he was born, and they came to America
because of the rights the U.S. Constitution
offered.
“That’s one of the many factors in terms of
why I wanted to serve this country, so I could uphold those ideals,
that I could fight, that I could give back to the community and
make sure that [my family] can keep those freedoms,” says
Aquino.

Aquino says he works everyday
towards protecting these rights. That, he says, makes his
entanglement with law enforcement these past few months even more
infuriating.

In December 2013, Aquino was at home when he noticed Sheriff’s
Deputy Ivan Rodriguez outside his property. Apparently, one of
Aquino’s neighbors didn’t recognize him and called the Sheriff’s
Department to report a suspicious person. According to Aquino,
Rodriguez didn’t identify himself and didn’t clarify why he was at
Aquino’s address. After some conversation, Aquino asked if he was
being detained, and the officer said yes. Thepolice
report claims that Aquino asked this in a
“confrontational tone.”

“The officer, he appears to have been offended at the idea that a
citizen would question his authority or would even ask any
questions,” says Aquino’s lawyer, Steven Liner. “Everything that
Nicolás was doing, to me is sort of like textbook ‘OK, I’m going to
be respectful, I’m going to answer questions, but I’m also going to
insist that you answer questions for me, because I am within my
rights on my property to ask these questions.'”
Even after Aquino provided his military ID and offered to get his
utlity bills to show proof of address, Rodriguez remained
unconvinced that Aquino was not a burglar and moved to physically
detain him.

“He just grabbed my wrist without any warning, without provocation,
put me in a choke hold,” says Aquino. “I still have fluid buildup
in the back of my right ear, a right head contusion, abrasions and
contusions on the elbows, knees, and hip.”

The officer then proceeded to put Aquino in handcuffs and search
his wallet. He finally concluded that he did, in fact, live
there.

“The officer did not apologize. He pulls me over to the side of the
driveway and he does basic victim blaming, and he says it was my
fault for not knowing my neighbors. He then states that he had
wanted to tase me if he had a taser, and he would have shot and
killed me if he had drawn his weapon, and he would have been fully
justified in killing me,” says Aquino.
After the incident, Aquino thought he could put the nightmare
behind him. Two months later, however, he was notified that there
was a warrant out for him for resisting arrest during the incident.
Aquino was dumbfounded but decided to fight back.

“I was not aggressive or confrontational in any way,” says Aquino.
“Are we supposed to bend over and, excuse my French, just take it?
Just because a person is on a power trip and feels that he can
bully you into submission?”
Liner says no, citizens need to stand up for their
rights. ”This is an opportunity for all of us to talk about
how it is that citizens have an absolute right to ask questions and
that police officers should be respectful and civil and act
lawfully, which means not using force unless it is really called
for,” he says.

Once word got out about the arrest, the public flocked to support
Aquino. The DA seemed
unconvinced at that point that a jury would side with Rodriguez,
and he dropped the charges. This is a victory for Aquino, but the
DA still
appears to defend the officer’s actions. The DA’s office
declined Reason‘s request for an
interview.

Aquino plans to continue fighting and is filing a civil claim
against Monterey County for damages.

About 7 minutes.
Produced by Tracy Oppenheimer, who also narrates.
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