In text message, officer allegedly brags about kicking murder suspect in head
A California police officer allegedly boasted in numerous text messages about his violent use of force during an arrest two years ago in the state's Bay Area, according to records obtained by prosecutors.
The officer, Eric Rombough, is one of several from the region's Antioch Police Department who are implicated in a texting scandal that stems from a joint investigation into alleged systemic misconduct, use of force and "moral turpitude" while on duty that's led by the FBI and the Contra Costa County district attorney's office. The nearby Pittsburg Police Department is also involved in the probe, which uncovered racist and otherwise controversial correspondence between officers, including texts and images that the district attorney's office has called "hurtful, offensive, and inflammatory."
Text messages allegedly sent and received by Rombough, as well as Antioch police officers Brock Marcotte, Timothy Manly Williams and Scott Duggar, in addition to one other unidentified person, appeared in the second and most recent round of redacted correspondence released by the Contra Costa County district attorney in a report this week. The messages were exchanged as Antioch police officers initiated the arrests of Terryonn Pugh and Armonie Pugh, two parolees who were at large and hiding in an American Canyon apartment complex in the spring of 2021.
Antioch's police chief at the time said Terryonn Pugh was taken into custody with the assistance of American Canyon police and the Napa County Sheriff's Office. On Wednesday, Henry Wofford, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said the agencies weren't involved in the arrest.
The arrests came as part of Operation Windstar, a large-scale police crackdown on gun violence linked to gang activity across the Bay Area, which began after a shooting in Oakland in January 2020 and ultimately led to the arrests of 48 gang members and associates on April 15, 2021, for various charges including murder, attempted murder and illegal weapons.
When authorities closed in on the apartment complex in American Canyon, Armonie Pugh was taken into custody inside of the apartment while Terryonn Pugh attempted to flee to a waiting vehicle, CBS Bay Area reported. The text messages included in the latest investigative report made public this week pertain to Terryonn Pugh's eventual arrest in a backyard after his attempt to flee.
"Murder suspect. In custody and that a..hole made me run," Rombough wrote in a text message included in the report, which he sent to a recipient whose name was redacted.
"Good thing you fast honey," the unidentified person said, to which Rombough replied, "He was way faster than us."
"LOL, still got him, so not fast enough," the recipient texted back. Rombough then recalled how officers "whooped" the suspect in the backyard.
"We managed to set up a perimeter and he got his a.. whooped in the backyard and I field goal kicked his head," Rombough said.
"I thought that was a no no," the unidentified person replied.
"No we can do that just no chokes. I tried to knock him unconscious. And he got muzzle thumped 6 times before he gave us his hands," Rombough texted. The unidentified person then replied, "Glad you're having fun babe," before Rombough said, "It's nice after a very boring swat op."
The district attorney's latest report is 14 pages long and comes after an initial 21-page document of written texts and images released earlier this month. A number of other messages that appeared in this week's report were blatantly racist and derogatory.
Federal authorities initially found the messages after agents served warrants to search the homes of various officers involved in the ongoing FBI probe, which is investigating the Antioch and Pittsburg police departments for alleged fraud, bribery, drug distribution and civil rights violations related to the use of force by officers.
Alex Sundby contributed reporting.