ANTIOCH — New videos released by the city — in what federal prosecutors now allege was an incident of police abuse — show an Antioch police officer fire a less-lethal launcher at a transgender woman whose hands were raised as a half-dozen officers, some with guns drawn, surrounded her.
In the video, Officer Devon Wenger — one of eight Antioch officers charged in a sweeping FBI indictment alleging civil rights violations and other crimes — is seen firing a less-lethal 40mm round at now 29-year-old Dajon Smith, striking her in the chest as she stood next to an allegedly stolen Masarati with both hands raised above her head. A few seconds earlier, Antioch police Sgt. Joshua Evans — who remains on leave for sending explicitly racist texts to colleagues — can be heard telling Wenger to “plug (her) a– with the 40.”
“Don’t you see my hands right here?” Smith yelled at officers, hands raised, two seconds before Wenger shot her with the sponge round. After being struck, the video shows Smith ducking back into the car, before a gaggle of officers run up, pull her out, and sic a police dog on her as they attempt to put her in handcuffs.
Smith, who is Black, was arrested moments later — though it took prosecutors a full 17 months to charge her with felony vehicle theft. Four weeks later, the Contra Costa District Attorney reversed course, dropping the charges against Smith in this and another car theft case, following a report detailing racist text communications by Evans and numerous other Antioch officers, all of whom have been placed on leave.
The Oct. 26, 2021, incident is included in the final count of the eight-count federal indictment, which charges Wenger with conspiracy and deprivation of civil rights. Wenger’s two co-defendants, Morteza Amiri and Eric Rombough, were not present during the encounter with Smith, but Amiri allegedly congratulated his colleague for the use of the less-lethal weapon and said he looked forward to watching the body camera footage. Wenger also faces charges of conspiracy to distribute steroids.
Multiple law enforcement sources say a former Antioch police lieutenant who reviewed the body camera footage flagged the case for an Internal Affairs probe and possible discipline. An Antioch police records officer said the IA investigation was placed on hold due to the pending FBI and DA investigation into alleged crimes by Wenger, Amiri and Rombough.
In an interview Friday, Smith, a 29-year-old Pittsburg resident, recalled officers acting in a frenzied, amped-up manner as they surrounded the car and ordered her to put her hands in the air.
“The guns were drawn already as soon as they got there,” said Smith.
It appeared as though “they just had their mind already made up, before they got there,” she said. “I was like: What’s happening, what’s going on?” Smith said. “I couldn’t really do anything or say anything. I didn’t even swing or take no aggressive action or anything like that.”
Police stopped Smith outside of an Antioch grocery store that day because the red Maserati she was driving had been reported stolen hours earlier from a Pittsburg car dealership. An employee reported that a woman drove off with the vehicle during the test drive.
Videos show Antioch officers surrounded the parked Maserati, blocking its only viable escape route with their vehicles, and drew their guns as they called for her to exit with her hands up. At one point, after Smith yells that her hands were, in fact, raised, an officer yelled at her to place her hands on top of her head. This exchange occurred before Smith is seen exiting the vehicle.
“Why are you guys pointing your guns at me like that?” Smith yells from inside the car. A few seconds later, Wenger is seen holstering his weapon and calling out to Evans.
“Hey Josh, you got the 40?” Wenger asked as he opened the trunk of a police car to retrieve it. As he does so, officers continued to yell, “Put your hands on top of your f—ing head,” and Evans tells Wenger, “Hey, plug (her) a– with the 40.”
Wenger grabs the gun, walks around a police car, and aims and fires the less-lethal launcher within five seconds, yelling out “less lethal, less lethal,” as he does. Video then shows officers surrounding Smith, who screams in pain as a police dog bites her arm for several seconds.
“Hey you did this to yourself,” one officer tells Smith after she’s handcuffed, later adding, “All you had to do was comply.”
Contra Costa County Public Defender Ellen McDonnell, whose office represented Smith, called the arresting officers’ actions, “brutal, inhumane and criminal” and said it “exemplifies the racist and violent policing.” She criticized the officers for “violently” taking down Smith and then “high-fiving one another” afterward.
“Each officer involved in this horrendous incident should be held accountable,” McDonnell said.
Later, in his report, Wenger wrote a lengthy justification for the use of the less-lethal weapon, writing that Smith “did not appear to have (her) hands up,” but that they were instead out to her side with one near the vehicle.
“Based on Dajon’s hands out to (her) side and (her) position was indicative of someone who was comtemplaiting (sic) and ready to either get into the stolen vehicle or potentially retrieve a weapon or firearm which may be readily accessible from the vehicle,” adding that “verbal deescalation” and the presence of six officers had failed to draw Smith’s compliance.
But when Amiri sent a text message congratulating Wenger for “making some arrests and then 40 someone today,” Wenger replied “#newyearnewme,” and “Just trying to get one SWAT, bro,” before telling Amiri, “You’re my hero.”
Amiri, the lead defendant in the indictment, is accused of using his police dog on people without just cause, and authorities claim text messages between Amiri, Rombough and Wenger indicated they pre-planned uses of the police dog and the less lethal weapons in advance.
Smith declined medical attention but was taken to a hospital anyway, where Antioch officers asked her why she ducked back into the vehicle after being shot with the 40mm round.
“My mind was at the point where I see danger and there’s something going on,” Smith said from her hospital bed. “It was just too much at that point.”