Dog Bites, Foam Bullets and Fear: Victims Testify to Ex-Antioch Officers’ Excessive Force

Daniel Romo recalled the feeling of a police K9 “eating [his] back” as officers yelled at him to stop resisting. Lying on his stomach in a tent in a homeless encampment, he said he was neither resisting arrest nor attempting to fight off the police dog.

Romo testified on Monday as one of several people to take the stand this week to describe being subjected to excessive force by former Antioch officers in a major police corruption trial. On Friday, the trial continued against Morteza Amiri, who is charged with taking part in a three-year conspiracy with the other officers to violate people’s civil rights through their repeated use of unlawful force.

In a text message sent by Amiri to former officer Devon Christopher Wenger after the 2020 incident with Romo, Amiri included several images of Romo’s dog bite injuries and said Oakley police officers who were with him had agreed to keep their cameras off during the attack. Wenger referred to the bites as “the morty special.”

“Bro we saw him laying in bed just acting like he was asleep,” Amiri texted Wenger. “I walked out the tent and game planned how to f— him up. Went back and did justice … you would have loved it.”

Defense attorneys representing Amiri and Wenger argued earlier this week that the officers were justified in their uses of force and that any messages exchanged between the two were simply a means of coping with a highly stressful work environment.

The case against Wenger was declared a mistrial on Wednesday after his attorney said her firm had provided her with insufficient support. Federal prosecutors will have to refile against Wenger, and Amiri’s case is expected to continue independently.

Romo, 38, has a criminal record of several felony convictions relating to vehicle theft and illicit drug use. He testified he was only test-driving a car when he spotted officers with the Oakley Police Department waiting for him at a fast food drive-thru. “Darryl,” who Romo said owned the vehicle, was sitting in the passenger seat next to him, reached over to step on the gas and forced Romo to keep driving during the ensuing high-speed police chase, Romo testified.

The pursuit ended at the homeless encampment Romo was staying in, where he said he ran into a tent and passed out as a result of sleep deprivation and methamphetamine use. Romo said he woke up shortly after to the feeling of Amiri’s K9, Purcy, attacking him. He said he felt disoriented and confused and screamed out in pain.

After the attack, Romo was taken to a nearby hospital in Antioch, where he said he heard officers laughing about what had happened to him. One officer asked him if he could take pictures of Romo’s wounds, and he agreed. In photos of Romo shared with the jury by federal prosecutors, about two dozen lacerations could be seen across his shoulders, presumably caused by Amiri’s police dog.

During his cross-examination of Romo, Amiri’s attorney, Paul Goyette, questioned why Romo never complained about being attacked by the K9. Romo said he was fearful of what would happen if he did.

“I was afraid to stand up or say anything like that toward a law enforcement officer,” he said. “I’m not protected. I don’t care what anybody says. I was in fear.”

Two other people also testified this week that they were subjected to excessive force by Eric Rombough, another officer who was charged with conspiracy alongside Amiri and Wenger. Rombough, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy in January, served as a key witness for the prosecution on Thursday.

Jessie Lee Wilson, 29, said he was staying over at his sister’s house and playing video games when officers barged into his room with flashlights and guns. According to Wilson, he immediately put his hands in the air and was grabbed by an officer when he heard a shot go off.

Wilson immediately felt a sharp pain in his stomach, presumably caused by a foam projectile from Rombough’s 40-millimeter impact round launcher.

Wilson described the event as mentally traumatizing.

“I try to move cautiously now,” Wilson said during his testimony on Tuesday. “I just have a whole other outlook on law enforcement.”

Larry Reed, 45, testified this week that he was also shot by Rombough during an unexpected police raid. Bursting into tears on the stand, Reed said he was sleeping at his girlfriend’s house when he awoke to the sound of officers yelling at him.

As Reed began to stand up with his arms raised, a shot was fired at his chest, causing him immediate pain. Officers quickly climbed on top of him and handcuffed him, Reed said, adding they ignored his cries while doing so. Reed said he was arrested shortly after, but no charges were brought against him.

“I know it wasn’t right,” Reed said in tears. “It shouldn’t have happened … They really misjudged me and thought I was something I wasn’t.”

When Rombough took the stand, he testified that he and Amiri encouraged each other to violently punish suspects, often with the unlawful use of Amiri’s police K9 and Rombough’s 40-millimeter impact round launcher, which fires a hard foam projectile.

Rombough, who prosecutors said during trial on Monday would collect spent impact round shells to place on his fireplace mantle, said he and Amiri would congratulate each other after uses of force.

The two would send photos of victims’ injuries to one another and mock other officers who refrained from using excessive force in their arrests, he said. Amiri would also promise to get food for officers who gave him the opportunity to deploy Purcy, Rombough said.

“Anyone that helps me get a bite will get a filet mignon dinner,” Amiri texted in a group chat with other officers.

Wenger, who stood trial alongside Amiri earlier this week before the mistrial, is also accused of excessively using a less-lethal firearm to hurt suspects.

Amiri’s trial is set to continue next week.