Lawsuit Claims California Cop Who Assaulted Man For Filming On His Porch Was Part Of A Vigilante Gang

VALLEJO — In new court filings, attorneys for a Bay Area man who was tackled by a Vallejo officer as he filmed a traffic stop accuse the officer of participating in a “vigilante police gang” that bent the tips of their badges to mark kills on the job.

The new allegations, filed in court last week by civil rights attorneys Adante Pointer, Melissa Nold, and Patrick Buelna, accuse Vallejo Ofc. David McLaughlin of being one of at least 11 officers in the police department who were part of a so-called “Badge of Honor” gang within the city’s police department. The attorneys represent Adrian Burrell and his cousin, Michael Walton, who sued McLaughlin and the city after McLaughlin tackled Burrell as he filmed Walton being pulled over in 2019.

The attorneys submitted a proposal to file a new civil complaint that includes the badge bending allegations against McLaughlin. Specifically, they allege that McLaughlin bent the tip of his badge in August 2017, after he and four other officers shot and killed Benicia resident Jeffrey Barboa, as Barboa walked toward the officers with a machete held above his head, after crashing his car during a high-speed police chase into Richmond.

Barboa was struck 41 times. A coroner’s inquest jury later ruled it a suicide.

The city has not responded to the allegations yet, but has denied allegations in previous versions of the lawsuit that accuse McLaughlin of using excessive force and the city’s former police chief, Andrew Bidou, of creating a department culture that allowed misconduct to fester.