Girl Describes Davis Police Mistreatment

Apr. 16 - KGO (KGO) -- Monday morning, a judge will decide whether to dismiss the case against a Muslim teenager from Davis. Halema Buzayan was arrested for misdemeanor hit-and-run, even though her mother insisted she was driving at the time. The damage to the two vehicles didn't seem to match and the family had already paid for repairs to the other car.

After the ABC7 I-Team aired that story last month, we received an e-mail from another young woman who says she got the same treatment from the same officer.

Twenty-year-old Natalie Corona headed out for some Christmas shopping one afternoon last December when Officer Pheng Ly pulled her over for not wearing a seatbelt. The UC Davis student and cheerleader for the Aggies handed over her driver's license, but Ly spotted another ID in her wallet.

Natalie Corona, UC Davis student: "He asked me, 'Who's ID is this?' And I told him, 'It's my friend's, it was left in my wallet the last time we had gotten together to go out.'"

Officer Ly wasn't buying it. Natalie says he questioned her for 15 minutes by the side of the road, insisting she used the ID to buy alcohol -- Natalie's friend is 21.

Natalie repeatedly denied the accusation until Ly arrested her.

Natalie Corona, UC Davis student: "So he said, 'Step up onto the curb, put your hands behind your back, you're under arrest for possession of fraudulent identification.'"

Dan Noyes, ABC7 I-Team: "And he handcuffed you."

Natalie Corona, UC Davis student: "And he handcuffed me behind my back, and I was kind of shocked. I was just kind of standing there."

Ly put Natalie in the back of his squad car and drove her to the police station. He pat her down and put her in a holding cell for an hour. Then, he picked up the interrogation, insisting again and again that Natalie lied about the ID.

Natalie Corona, UC Davis student: "So I got a little scared, and I was just thinking to myself, 'If I don't tell him what he wants to hear, I don't know what could possibly happen. I could stay in here longer, I could have a bigger fine. So I just told him what he wanted to hear."

Dean Johnson, ABC7 legal analyst: "This appears to be an illegal arrest for a non-existent crime."

The ABC7 I-Team asked Dean Johnson, the former San Mateo county prosecutor and legal analyst for ABC7, to take a look at the charge against Natalie.

Section 25-661 of the business and professions code has two parts. "Possession of false identification" was not true in Natalie's case -- it was her friend's valid driver's license. "Trying to purchase alcohol" with a fake ID was also not true -- Ly did not see her at a bar or liquor store.

Dean Johnson, ABC7 legal analyst: "As a matter of law, there was no crime committed, and certainly every officer knows from day one at the Post Academy, that you do not have the authority to arrest for a misdemeanor that did not happen in your presence."

Officer Ly did not return phone calls or e-mail from the ABC7 I-Team asking for comment, but we caught up to Davis Police Chief Jim Hyde at a city council meeting last week.

Dan Noyes, ABC7 I-Team: "Was that arrest proper in your mind?"

Jim Hyde, Davis police chief: "In my mind it was. Yes, sir."

Dan Noyes, ABC7 I-Team: "Is that standard police procedure?"

Jim Hyde, Davis police chief: "For that matter, it was. Yes sir."

Hyde's been hearing complaints about police misconduct during the past few years, but the controversy has reached a new level now that the chief's awarded Pheng Ly "Officer of the Year."

Jim Hyde, Davis police chief: "It's based upon his peers' view of his work, his stature, his performance, his ethics, his training."

Jann Murray-Garcia, Davis resident: "What a slap in the face of all of us who have voiced our concerns and experienced misconduct and humiliation at the hands of the Davis police."

More than 100 people crowded into the City Council meeting to complain about the Davis P.D.

Dean Johansson, Davis resident: "What I see in the city, specifically, is a cowboy mentality among the police department."

But the greatest criticism for Pheng Ly is coming from a law enforcement veteran, a detective who's worked at a major Bay Area police department for 16-years -- Natalie's father.

Name withheld, Natalie's father: "She's never given us any problems, and there's no reason for him to do what he did."

He wants to remain anonymous to keep his private life separate from his public service.

Name withheld, Natalie's father: "It just seems to me like he'd rather harass little kids than go after the big boys. He's wasting his time on the wrong people."

Natalie Corona wants to get all this behind her, so she's pleading guilty and entering a diversion program. That will clear her record. But she's speaking out to try and bring change to Davis.

Natalie Corona, UC Davis student: "It kind of makes me wonder where the priorities of the Davis police department lie, if they're pulling over, you know, some harmless girl and taking her to jail, for, you know, having a friend's ID. What else are they not doing? It's silly to me."

Natalie says she has no interest in suing the police, the city, or the county. She just wanted you to know that Halema Buzayan's not alone.

By the way, most of Ly's interactions with Natalie were recorded, but the police department and city attorney refused an ABC7 I-Team public records act request for the tapes.

>> <font color="red">Video On Demand: Build Your Own Newscast</font>

>> E-mail the ABC7 I-Team

Get more News »

• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•