Challenging the Police Report of Off-Duty Officer Attacked by Activist

Supporters of Mr. Tony Soto, who was arrested May 18th for attacking an off-duty cop, say he was targeted and the police report is false.

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If there’s anything that Philadelphians should’ve learned from the case of Mr. Brandon Tate-Brown – who was killed by a police officer while unarmed and fleeing on December 14^th, 2014 but who was originally said to have been reaching for a gun inside of his car when shot in the back of the head – is to question more of authority and to dig deeper than a headline to see the full picture of an incident. In contrast to what was initially printed about Mr. Tate-Brown – that he posed as a high-level threat to officers and had to be contained via deadly force – the 26 year-old was aggressed upon and appeared to be attempting to evade police’s grasp, not escalate the confrontation with the presence of a firearm.

Mr. Tate-Brown, in the days and weeks following his murder, had a handful of people rallying to protest his death and provide an alternative image to the brutish, black ex-felon that the media pushed and that was so easily accepted by the public. One of those individuals loyal to Mr. Tate-Brown in death was long-time friend Mr. Tony Soto, who on May 18^th, 2016, was arrested based on the claim that he, impersonating a police officer, pulled a gun on an off-duty Philadelphia police officer – whom he later punched in the face, according the police report – the officer’s fiancée and brother-in-law.

Mr. Soto’s mother, Ms. Janie Soto, who witnessed the encounter and has avoided contact with any all media but who today spoke exclusively to Techbook Online, said the narrative introduced to the public about the May 18^th incident is without proper context and is largely false. For starters, Ms. Soto claims the local news media has portrayed this as a random incident instead of an on-going contentious relationship between her 29 year-old son, who gained moderate fame by recording and posting to the internet his tense traffic stops, and Philadelphia police officers, who have unfairly targeted him since the pro-Brandon-Tate-Brown protests began in late December of 2014.

“I’ve watched them antagonize Tony following protests in the Northeast,” said Mrs. Tanya Brown-Dickerson, the mother of Mr. Tate-Brown, who has known Mr. Soto and his family for years.

Mrs. Brown-Dickerson, who spoke to me this afternoon by phone, told me that the arrest of Mr. Soto, the list of charges filed against him (Aggravated Assault and Criminal Conspiracy among them), the false narrative – “no one who knows Tony believes he would point a gun at someone he knew to be a police officer” – and his $900,000.00 bail, is the local government’s way of retaliating against him for involvement in the many protests which sought justice for Mr. Tate-Brown.

Ms. Soto, who despite witnessing the incident has yet to have her statement taken by detectives or any PPD personnel, says the police here hate her son and are absolutely retailing against him for what he represents: truth, justice and community.

The police report and Ms. Soto’s version of events – which includes her being held against her will in Mr. Soto’s home from 10pm Wednesday evening until noon on Thursday and at some point having a seizure due to being denied water and the medication that aids her nausea catalyzed by chemotherapy – both have behind Mr. Soto’s home a car that was parked in his private driveway without clearance.

However, the difference is in the ownership of the car. The police report says it was the brother-in-law’s of the off-duty officer, whereas Ms. Soto contends the car belongs to the fiancée of the then off-duty officer, referred to in the police report as Complaints #1, and that its often parked in Mr. Soto’s driveway as a form of harassment and annoyance.

“There’s no explanation they can give for why their car was parked in Tony’s driveway,” said Ms. Soto, a stage four cancer patient who claims her cellphone, which she was using the record the incident, was taken from her by police and its absence puts her life in jeopardy due to her inability to contact nurses, surgeons and family members.

The police report also says Mr. Soto, who was convicted in 2008 for impersonating a police officer, positioned his car in front of the illegal parked vehicle and said “I’m taking that sh*t,” but Ms. Soto argues that her son, who’s neighbors with the fiancée, was on the phone with a towing service attempting to get the car removed, as he had done before when this particular circumstances arose.

While on the phone, Ms. Soto claims the off-duty officer and his fiancée and brother-in-law, who in the report are Complaints #2 and #3 respectively, began threatening and taunting Mr. Soto, who was eventually convinced by his mother to walk away and towards the front of the home to avoid confrontation. It’s at this point where the off-duty cop, according to Ms. Soto, ran up to Mr. Soto and punched him in the face, at which point the brother-in-law also engaged and a two-on-one fight ensued.

The police report disputes that claim, and instead asserts that Mr. Soto, in addition to been handed a gun by his pregnant girlfriend but who later returned the gun to the home when Complaints #1 identified himself as a cop and attempted to make an arrest, fled the scene by foot and, when caught, threw punches, at which point the then off-duty officer defended himself.

Police quickly arrived on scene, but Ms. Soto says that’s only because she stood in the middle of the street and flagged them down. Soon after, there were thirty or so officers on the scene, many of whom, according to Ms. Soto, were from the 15^th District, where Officer Nicholas Carrelli, who killed Mr. Tate-Brown and whose actions were deemed justified, is assigned to patrol.

Mrs. Brown-Dickerson – who with the assistance of investigators was able to find video of her son’s encounter with law enforcement and disprove the narrative initially offered by officials – said Ms. Soto, who sounded weary during the interview, needs to find witnesses or video evidence disproving the police report, and that she would assist in that effort.

“We’re not going to take the police department’s word on this story, we demand proof,” Mrs. Brown-Dickerson, who recently made a couple campaign stops with Mrs. Hillary Clinton, shouted.

“The streets don’t believe the police’s story,” said Mr. Asa Khalif, a Black Lives Matter activist who’s a friend to Mr. Soto and a cousin to the Tate-Brown family.

A spokesperson for the police department today told me that a gun was recovered from the scene but a picture of the firearm isn’t available. Also, the spokesperson refused to inform me of the name of the arresting officer and was unaware if the then off-duty officer received medical attention after the encounter.

Mrs. Brown-Dickerson, enraged upon learning that Mr. Soto’s pregnant girlfriend, who’s a month away from giving birth, is locked up on a nearly half a million dollar bail, said she will be organizing protests and marches to bring attention to this incident and to the fact that Mr. Soto is, in essence, a political prisoner.

“It’s time for us to act. We must do something and we must do it now,” she exclaimed.

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