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Off-duty officer attacks veteran in Redding CA - Video and news update! [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-05-21

This video vent viral on Reddit a few days ago, showing an off-duty police officer in Redding CA going all psycho on a community member: www.reddit.com/...

“Napoleon complex cop” attacking Valdez

From what I can gather, it sounds like Valdez and his wife tried to pull their car into the same parking lot they always uses to attend the annual “Cool April Nights” event. But they were denied entry, and had to park further away. While walking back to get to the event, he saw that other cars were being let into the parking area he wanted to park in.

The police claim that Valdez then started yelling at the parking attendants and security staff because he was angry about being denied entry to the parking lot. Valdez does admit “I cussed her out”. Police claim that he then started “aggressively accosting” the volunteers. It’s unclear what this means, and there’s no video of this part.

The original video starts just after that point. Here’s a quote from the Reddit post, but it’s really worth watching the whole video, and reading the full thing:

The Redding Police Department “News Release” states that “an off-duty RPD officer passing by identified himself as an off-duty sworn police officer and attempted to defuse the situation, instructing Valdez to leave the area”. However, this video shows an entirely different story. Where is the off-duty officer’s de-escalation” or “attempts to defuse” the situation. All that is seen is harassment and escalation, as well as aggressive physical treatment from the off-duty officer dressed in brown plaid

And here’s the update from Redding-based KRCR News Channel 7:

I’m no expert, but this looks like extremely unprofessional (and probably illegal) behavior from all 3 police officers. Valdez said that (before the video) the off duty officer did show his gun, and maybe a badge - though Valdez couldn’t see if it was a badge without his glasses on.

The original video looks like something they should show at police academy classes, asking the cadets to identify all the dumb mistakes these small-town cops made.

In my opinion Valdez actually handled the situation as well as he could. He kept asking what the charge against him was, what order he was supposed to follow, etc. And he could have beat the shit out that little cop, but totally kept his cool throughout the whole situation.

I think the ACLU should start showing this video in their Legal Rights trainings, and asking everyone to identify all the things Valdez did right.

And finally I have to give a shout out to whoever took the video, asked questions of the officer, and then published the video! We all must be prepared to grab our phones and start recording whenever something looks wrong!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/21/2323690/-Off-duty-officer-attacks-veteran-in-Redding-CA-Video-and-news-update?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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