FULL EXONERATION FOR SEASIDE POLICE OFFICER

SEAN D. CURRIN
Senior Associate
Mastagni Holstedt, APC

An arbitrator recently exonerated a 13-year Seaside Corporal, determining his suspension was “not for just cause.” The Seaside Police Department sought to sustain over a dozen policy violations against Corporal Sakhrani for violations ranging from gender discrimination/harassment to bullying.  None of the allegations was supported by the evidence. 

This case was less about facts and more about personal hostility from the complainant.  The main complainant in this case was related to Corporal Sakhrani’s ex-wife.  Needless to say, the complainant’s own bias was an issue in the case. To further complicate things, Sakhrani’s ex-wife also works in human resources for the City of Seaside. Why would this matter? Because the City of Seaside handpicked an investigator who lives over 400 miles away in San Diego named Betty Kelepecz. Kelepecz, a former chief of police for the San Diego Harbor Police Department, filed her own $2 million claim alleging discrimination, harassment and retaliation before leaving the department. She has since gone on to become an investigator specializing in such allegations. Her 132-page single-spaced report was filled with conjecture, speculation and assumptions without factual support. Her conclusions were so outrageous that even the Seaside Police Department disagreed with some of her findings. While the Department ignored many of Kelepecz’s preposterous findings, the Department opted to sustain allegations of discrimination/harassment and bullying/hazing and proceeded to suspend Sakhrani.

Discrimination and Harassment
The main complainant alleged Sakhrani engaged in discriminatory harassment against her based on gender. This accusation is ridiculous and failed to stand up to any reasonable scrutiny. The complainant alleged Sakhrani tried to get her removed from being a FTO and embarrassed her when he “yelled” at her and insisted she do a felony traffic stop on a stolen vehicle. As you may recall from the academy, a stolen vehicle requires the officer to remain behind cover of their vehicle, withdraw their weapon and call out the occupants one at a time.  Despite knowing the vehicle was stolen, the complainant (who was a FTO with a trainee at the time) instead treated the contact as essentially no big deal. Upon seeing this unfold, Sakhrani had the complainant tactfully retreat from standing next to the stolen vehicle and then followed the proper felony-stop procedure. Department witnesses testified that if an officer were to witness an unsafe situation, they expect the officer to step in to make the scene safe. Department witnesses went on to state that disciplining an officer for stepping in when they perceive a safety issue is unfair. The Department even provided training shortly after the incident occurred, instructing officers to handle a felony car stop exactly the way Sakhrani did.  Needless to say, this allegation was dismissed by the arbitrator.

The complaint also alleges Sakhrani “yelled” or was disrespectful to the complainant, an allegation easily disproven by video evidence. The video confirmed Sakhrani’s voice was not raised, and was in fact the exact same tone and volume as other officers on scene. 

Similarly, the discrimination allegation regarding Sakhrani allegedly trying to get the complainant stripped of her FTO duties was also dismissed. The complainant alleged Sakhrani and several other FTOs conspired against her by alerting supervisors of their concerns with her as a FTO. As many are aware, FTOs serve an extremely important function by training young officers on how to respond in potentially life-or-death situations. While Sakhrani and other FTOs raised concerns about the complainant’s abilities via a memo to administration, no investigation into their concerns was conducted. The bulk of the hearing included police officers testifying to numerous events where the complainant failed to practice good officer safety tactics. The issues raised by the other FTOs had nothing to do with her not being a good police officer, but everything to do with her simply needing more experience as she had only been a police officer for a few short years and simply needed more time on the job to learn before becoming a FTO. To highlight this fact, the complainant testified under oath that she didn’t believe she was ready to be a FTO. We were able to show by overwhelming evidence that the complainant’s “discrimination” complaint had nothing to do with discrimination and more to do with revenge against Sakhrani. Our arbitrator saw through this ploy and dismissed the allegations.

The arbitrator required Sakhrani “be made whole for his loss of pay, with reinstatement of all benefits and other emoluments of employment, and the entire matter shall be expunged from his personnel file.”
Associations must be wary of handpicked investigators traveling great distances as their involvement could be (and often is) a sign of a biased investigation.

Sakhrani would like to thank the Seaside POA, PORAC LDF and the Mastagni Law Firm for all of their support and countless hours on the phone day and night. Though this shadow had been hanging over Sakhrani for over a year, vindication makes all the hard work worthwhile.

About the Author
Sean D. Currin is a senior associate at Mastagni Holstedt, APC, who represents public-sector employees in administrative investigations, critical incidents, labor arbitrations and civil litigation. Sean serves as general counsel to large public safety unions throughout California and is an experienced panel attorney for PORAC’s Legal Defense Fund.