Santa Ana officials are expected to consider censuring Councilman Johnathan Hernandez tonight after three police officers filed complaints alleging he harassed, retaliated and defamed them.
The complaints come after a host of accountability questions surfaced over summer for the police department and its union – which spends heavily on local elections – posed in part by Hernandez during a federal immigration crackdown particularly felt in cities like Santa Ana.
Scores of residents railed Santa Ana police department’s response to the local protests against the federal deportation sweeps – including Hernandez.
[Read: Santa Ana’s Response to ICE Protests Prompt Questions for Police & Mayor]
At the 5:30 p.m. meeting on Tuesday, city council members are expected to discuss formally admonishing Hernandez for the complaints – including the possibility of removing him from regional commissions, limiting his access to city staff and nixing his travel budget.
Hernandez denies the allegations and said the censure is an attempt to stifle his First Amendment rights to keep him from criticizing Santa Ana police officers after he said there were “killer cops” in the department – referring to recent police shootings.
“I’m disappointed but not surprised that the bought and paid for politicians of the Santa Ana City Council and those who are afraid of the police union would attempt to do so,” he said in a Monday phone interview, adding that he was elected because he supports police accountability.
“They’re trying to censure me because I rang the alarm,” he said. “Bring it on.”
[Read: Does Santa Ana’s Police Union View Criticism and Questions as Harassment?]
Hernandez said he won’t stop.
“I’m going to keep coming. I’m going to stay loud, and if they do attempt to censure me, they can expect me to continue to be critical of killer cops. I’m not going to bend to the police union.”
The police union spent over $50,000 against Hernandez’s reelection campaign last year.
John Kachirisky, president of the Santa Ana Police Officers’ Association, said in a Monday email statement he is concerned about the allegations, but added Hernandez has a right to due process and the union supports an investigation into the allegations.
“We are definitely concerned about the allegations made by several of our members and the fact he may be causing adverse working conditions,” reads the statement.
“It seems like there is a pattern here, but we will reserve final judgment after results of an investigation are released and we can review.”
Kachirisky also said if an investigation finds wrongdoing, they would support some sort of consequence against Hernandez.
Tuesday’s expected censure discussion comes after the rest of his colleagues on the dais voted behind closed doors in August to direct City Attorney Sonia Carvalho to advise them about a censure process against Hernandez at their Oct. 7 meeting.
Hernandez was absent from the 6-0 vote.
Councilman Ben Vazquez said he supported the censure discussion to allow Hernandez an opportunity to defend himself publicly and there hadn’t been an investigation done into the complaints.
He also said Hernandez has a right to be critical of police protocols and actions.
“We’re doing our jobs. We’re taking our responsibility seriously and some people don’t like the police to be held in place of where they’re supposed to be and do their jobs correctly,” Vazquez said in a Monday phone interview.
Mayor Valerie Amezcua, Councilmembers Jessie Lopez, Thai Viet Phan, Phil Bacerra and David Penaloza did not respond to a request for comment.
Voice of OC tried to obtain the complaints a couple days after the vote through a public records request but city staff swiftly denied the request, arguing the public interest was better served by not disclosing the records and pointed to confidentiality and privacy rules.
Hernandez said one of the police officers who filed the complaint said his cousin, Brandon Lopez, had a gun when Anaheim police officers shot and killed him in 2021. Lopez was unarmed.
He also said the other two officers were involved in the shooting death of Noe Rodriguez at the end of last year, which sparked public demands for accountability including from Hernandez and is currently under investigation by the state attorney general’s office – a standard practice for police shootings of unarmed people.
According to an OC Register article, Rodriguez was carrying a fake gun.
Vazquez said the censure was a political move and the council should not move forward with it.
“It’s because of his critique of the killing of innocent people by police,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hernandez said he has been the target of police harassment following the killing of his cousin and that he has videos and pictures of police stopping him, blocking his driveway and watching his house.
“If I could sue this city tomorrow and prove that I’m being harassed – it wouldn’t even be a fucking struggle,” he said.
Kachirisky said Hernandez has made claims at public meetings that cops have harassed him but provides no proof.
“Anyone can run their mouth and based on California law, elected officials apparently have legislative immunity to say what they want on the dais. To that we say, show us the proof. We are more than happy to look it over,” reads Kachirisky’s statement.
Ongoing Friction Between Councilman and Police Department
This year, Hernandez publicly criticized the police department’s use of tear gas and rubber bullets against anti-ICE protestors in June as well as spoke out against changes to the police oversight commission to dial back its power.
Hernandez has also criticized the police department for failing to disclose their military equipment and how they used it for the past two years and most recently has supported Vazquez’s call for the state attorney general to probe the police union’s spending.
[Read: Santa Ana Councilman Calls on State Attorney General to Probe Police Union Spending]
The complaints against Hernandez also come while the police union has sent reporter Ben Camacho – who often writes about Santa Ana police – a cease and desist letter demanding he stop reaching out to its members to ask them questions or face legal actions.
This is not the first time Hernandez has faced a possible censure.
About a year ago, Santa Ana council members discussed censuring Hernandez after investigators found enough evidence to sustain allegations that he violated the city charter by interfering with city staff’s work to plan cultural celebrations like the Chicano Heritage Festival
[Read: Will Santa Ana Officials Admonish Councilman Johnathan Hernandez Ahead of Election?]
At the time, city officials contemplated censuring Hernandez but ultimately decided not to take action against him.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.