Video shows Vallejo police takedown that left man bleeding from head

VALLEJO – Newly released video shows a Vallejo police officer throw a man to the ground seconds after meeting him outside a bar earlier this year, which left the man with a swollen gash on his head.

Officer Rosendo Mesa had encountered the man, identified as 58-year-old Moises Bernal, outside a bar after Bernal had been kicked out on Jan. 21. Mesa arrested Bernal for alleged disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, but he was not charged with a crime.

The video was released last week under California’s police transparency law AB 748 that requires the release of video of incidents where police use of force causes great bodily injury. The law requires the release of such video within 45 days of the incident, but the video was not released until after the Vallejo Sun learned of the incident and requested the video last month.

Bernal’s arrest is one of six reported incidents where Vallejo police caused severe injury so far this year. The city is required to release video of each incident, but so far has only released video of Bernal’s arrest and a shooting in June. 

The city has indicated it will not release video of a police shooting last week, arguing that the records are confidential because the person who was shot is a juvenile and citing a court order sought by the Solano County District Attorney’s Office prohibiting its release.

Bernal’s arrest happened just before 9 p.m. on Jan. 21, when Mesa went to the Relay Club, a bar across the street from police headquarters, on a report that a man had been kicked out, according to Mesa’s police report. 

The video shows Mesa arrive and find Bernal outside. Mesa asked, “How’s it going?” and Bernal responded, “They threw me out. Is anybody else here with you?” Mesa said that it was just him and a police dog in the car.

Bernal had one hand in the pocket of his sweatshirt. Mesa told him to take his hand out of his pocket. Bernal did, but then a moment later turned away from Mesa and put his hand back in his pocket. Mesa then grabbed Bernal by both arms and threw him to the ground.

Mesa wrote that Bernal “resisted my effort to detain him by quickly returning his right hand to his right jacket pocket and turning his body away from me. I utilized a leg sweep take down to overcome [Bernal’s] resistance and escort him to the ground.”

Bernal was left with a swelling 1-inch gash on his left forehead, and Mesa called an ambulance to treat him. Bernal was admitted to the hospital for observation for one to two days, according to Mesa’s report.

After arresting Bernal, Mesa spoke to the bartender at the Relay, who said that he had served Bernal two drinks and then Bernal complained about the third. The bartender said that Bernal challenged the bartender to fight and then tried to fight other people in the bar, so he was forcibly removed. Court records show that Bernal was not charged with a crime.

Mesa was involved in another incident last year when his dog bit a man after a brief pursuit. The man filed a lawsuit which was settled for $40,000. But the incident was not included in Vallejo police’s use of force statistics, which a police spokesperson said would be revised.