Two former Torrance, California officers are facing vandalism charges after they allegedly spray-painted a swastika on a car they impounded, the Los Angeles County District Attorney announced Thursday. More than a dozen other officers have been placed on leave after the investigation revealed they allegedly shared racist, homophobic and antisemitic messages.
Former officers Christopher Tomsic, 29, and Cody Weldin, 28, were charged with one felony count each of vandalism and conspiracy to commit vandalism, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Both men pleaded not guilty to the charges, it said.
On January 27, 2020, Tomsic and Weldin were allegedly among a group of officers responding to a police call regarding stolen mail, the DA’s office said. The former officers were led to a vehicle and allegedly ordered for it to be impounded to a tow yard, according to the D.A.’s office. When the owner of the vehicle arrived to pick up the car, he found a happy face spray-painted on the front passenger seat, a swastika symbol spray-painted on the rear seat, and other items strewn throughout the vehicle, the statement said.
The two men were terminated in March 2020, the police chief said.
At a joint news conference with the police chief, District Attorney George Gascón said the other Torrance officers who were suspended were “exchanging racist, discriminatory, homophobic and anti-Semitic messages.”
The District Attorney’s office has identified hundreds of cases in which the officers were involved, he said, and they will be reviewed that no other misconduct occurred.
Torrance Police Chief Jeremiah Hart said at the joint news conference that 13 other officers have been placed on administrative leave after the investigation into Weldin and Tomic revealed that these other officers allegedly engaged in racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic messages.
The District Attorney’s office has identified hundreds of other cases that the two officers were involved in and that will be reviewed for misconduct, according to a statement.
“We have seen an increase in hate crimes, not only in our own home town but around the country. And it’s unacceptable,” Gascón said. “But it becomes doubly unacceptable when we have the people that are sworn to protect all of us who engage in this behavior.”
Hart asserted that the Torrance Police Department has a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior.
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2 Responses
This story is missing some pertinent information. If they’re in Torrance, where are they finding Jews to be anti-semitic against? Why was the car impounded? Was it owned by a Jew? If yes, did they know the owner was a Jew? If not, why would they spray a swastika in the car? How did they think they could get away with vandalizing the car, given 24-7 video surveillance in these places?
As a resident of Los Angeles, I find this story to be very troubling, especially since in general, the LAPD has been very supportive of the Jewish communities here lately, throughout COVID-19 and beyond. It’s true that we don’t expect the cops to love Jews any more than any other goyim do, but this is a bit extreme, especially for cops in totally non-Jewish areas of LA. I’m glad the reaction of the brass at LAPD has seemingly been appropriately quick and forceful.
Torrance has a Jewish community; I taught at their school, Maimonides Torah Academy.