The City of Fullerton has, belatedly and selectively, released some police misconduct records. Despite the law changing on January 1st, 2019 and it now being the end of June, we have a whopping three files to look at on the city website.
The first of these files is regarding former Officer Chistopher Chiu.
What did Officer Chiu allegedly do?
He allegedly sexually assaulted a woman in a downtown parking structure, that’s what:
But not just any woman – the 19yo daughter of a fellow police officer.
After the alleged sexual assault, Officer Chiu also allegedly had the audacity to ask the victim out on a date:
No criminal charges came out of this case as by disabling his Body Worn Camera (BWC) there was little evidence of the alleged acts outside of victim and witness statements. Chiu was proven to have been in the parking structure at the time of the alleged incident, outside of his own patrol zone. However the victim was initially afraid of how her dad would respond and ultimately seems to have refused to press charges leading the District Attorney to drop the case.
If this happened as described she was brave to come forward especially without audio/video evidence of the allegations. If it didn’t happen then Chiu should have had his BWC activated to prove his innocence.
Ultimately the allegations against Chiu were sustained which was enough for administrative action but not for a criminal case.
Instead of a termination Chiu was allowed to resign via a settlement agreement where the city agreed to a no-fault, no-liability agreement allowing Chiu the freedom from the stigma of his actions which at a minimum include policy violations and at worse alleged sexual assault under the color of authority.
Were it not for SB1421 the public wouldn’t be allowed to know any of this information and so much more that is coming which is precisely the way the Police Unions want it.
We’ll continue to keep you posted as we learn more.
