A Palo Alto police officer used excessive force and failed to follow various department policies last year when he allegedly tackled a juvenile who was using his phone to record his detention, according to a new report from Independent Police Auditors Michael Gennaco and Stephen Connolly released Thursday.

The incident occurred when police responded to a report of a family disturbance involving two brothers. According to the report, by the time the officer responded, the mother had found more than 100 rounds of ammunition in the backpack that belonged to the younger brother.

In trying to locate the juvenile, the officer -- who is not named in the report -- found two other juveniles who were known to be friends of the subject, the report states. As the officer detained them and began to search them, one of them reportedly started recording the encounter with his cellphone.

According to the report, the officer said he was "blinded by the light of the phone" and tried to grab the device, leading to a struggle. The officer "took the juvenile to the ground and handcuffed him." He didn't find any weapons and ultimately released both of them without obtaining their identification or notifying their parents.

The officer then reported the incident to his supervisor, who reviewed footage from the police vehicle cameras and assigned it to an outside investigator, the auditor's report states. The investigator concluded that the officer "lacked the legal authority to detain, search, or handcuff either of the two juveniles or to search the backpack," according to the auditor's report.

In addition, the outside investigator found that the "force, handcuffing and search was unreasonable, unlawful and excessive and in violation of PAPD policy."

The review by Gennaco and Connolly found a few other shortcomings in the officer's response, including his dependence on the older brother (who was involved in the incident that triggered the initial call) to translate during the officer's conversation with the mother, a Spanish speaker whose English proficiency was limited, according to the report. It would have been highly preferable, the auditor wrote, to have had present one of the department's Spanish-speaking officers.

The police auditor concurred that the outside investigator's findings about excessive force were "timely, thorough and objective," but found several other additional lapses that the investigation did not consider. The auditor raised concerns about the officer's failure to complete a report of his initial response until over a month after the incident – a delay that that could have "formed the basis for further disciplinary action."

The new report, which covers incidents from the first half of 2017, also noted that the officer did not request or obtain identification from either of the two juveniles he'd encountered; and that one of the backup officers did not activate his vehicle cameras in responding to the incident, in violation of department policy.

The report said that according to department, these additional shortcomings were indeed identified and addressed following the incident involving the juveniles (though the auditor received no documentation to corroborate this).

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