NEWS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 19, 2002

CITY OF OAKLAND SETTLES FIRST POLICE CASE RELATED TO 'RIDERS'

Oakland, CA-City Attorney John Russo announced that in executive session today the Oakland City Council approved a $195,000 settlement of a lawsuit involving two of the police officers named in the "Riders" matter.

This specific case arises from the arrest of the plaintiff, Mr. Kenneth Davis, by two former Oakland Police officers also charged with criminal wrongdoing in the "Riders" case, Mabanag and Hornung. Davis was arrested in November 1998 for possession of a controlled substance (crack cocaine), jaywalking, and being under the influence and unable to care for his safety. Davis was prosecuted by
the Alameda County District Attorney's Office and initially sentenced to 16 months in prison.

In the course of the ongoing criminal prosecution of the Riders officers, the District Attorney's Office conducted an inquiry into several hundred cases that were prosecuted based on arrest reports filed by the Riders officers. As a result of this review, the District Attorney requested that the Alameda County Superior Court dismiss approximately 100 individual cases.

The Davis case was submitted to the Superior Court for dismissal on January 20, 2001. The court immediately ordered that Mr. Davis be released from prison. The settlement takes into account that Davis served 287 days in custody as a result of the disputed arrest, and includes all attorney's fees and charges.