• Originally published in the Contra Costa Times on August 28, 2004[here ]

By Rebecca Rosen Lum

Richmond resident Andres Soto has settled his civil rights suit against the city stemming from alleged police brutality during the 2002 Cinco de Mayor festival for $150,000.

"We're hoping it sends a message," said Soto, who has announced his candidacy for City Council. "We settled this to put it behind us and move forward, and part of the moving forward requires the City Council to sign off on it forthwith."

The City Council has 60 days to sign the agreement. The matter is expected to be taken up in closed session Sept. 14. Neither the mayor nor city attorney could be reached for comment.

Soto and his sons, Che and Alejandro Soto-Vigil, were returning to their Lowell Avenue home from a Cinco de Mayo festival in Berkeley shortly before 7 p.m. May 5, 2002, when they saw police clearing a stretch of 23rd Street after an illegal "sideshow."

In the $1.7 million federal lawsuit, Soto would later claim the police unleashed an unprovoked melee, with officers arresting and pepper-spraying bystanders and threatening them with police dogs, trampling a Mexican flag, and striking innocent parties with flashlights and nightsticks.

Officer La Raunce Robinson faced termination over statements he made during the excessive-force investigation. However, he was allowed to leave with a $115,000 worker's compensation settlement and a medical disability retirement.

Private attorneys hired by the city proposed finalizing the agreement in early December.

"Unfortunately, the issues of police oversight our case helped crystallize are still unresolved," Soto said. "The current City Council has twice tried to get rid of, or emasculate, the police commission as a favor to the Richmond Police Officers Association in an election year."

If the council has not signed the agreement in 60 days, the trial will proceed, he said.