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• Lawsuit Accuses Humboldt Sheriff’s Deputy of Assault, Battery and Excessive Force in Arrest of Unhoused Man

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The Humboldt County government has agreed to pay $150,000 and provide additional training to Sheriff’s Office patrol deputies to settle a lawsuit that accused Deputy Sheriff Ryan Campadonia of using excessive force during the traffic stop and arrest of an unhoused man in Garberville last year.

As part of the settlement, Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal issued a letter to the plaintiff, Darrin Dickson, in which he acknowledges that Campadonia “escalated the situation … without attempting any initial de-escalation measures” when he broke the driver’s side window with his baton. Dickson had been living in his vehicle at the time of the incident.

The suit, which was filed on Nov. 1, alleged that while breaking the window, Campadonia’s baton struck Dickson in the face, and glass from the shattered window got in his right eye, causing a corneal abrasion and bleeding cuts on his face and scalp. It further accused Campadonia of grabbing Dickson by the throat, elbowing him in the face and having his vehicle impounded, against office policy, as retaliation against Dickson for exercising his constitutional rights.

“This incident did not meet the high standard of conduct we uphold at the Sheriff’s Office,” Honsal says in his letter, which quotes from his office’s use-of-force policy and mentions only the window-breaking, not the other allegations.

Dickson’s attorney, Benjamin Mainzer, said this settlement, including the public acknowledgement from Honsal, represents a significant step forward.

“The HCSO has now committed to implementing corrective measures intended to prevent what happened to Mr. Dickson from happening to anyone else,” Mainzer said in an emailed statement. “As a direct result of this lawsuit, Deputy Campadonia and all members of the patrol division will now receive additional training. This commitment to improvement and accountability would not have been possible without Mr. Dickson coming forward.”

Earlier this year the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury recommended that the county establish a civilian oversight board for the Sheriff’s Office, saying such independent review “promotes good management, fiscal responsibility, transparency, and accountability without interfering with the Sheriff’s Office’s enforcement and investigative functions.”

But Honsal opposes the call for civilian oversight, saying the community can always hold him accountable at the ballot box.

“The Sheriff is elected by the people to provide the oversight over all the duties and responsibilities of the Sheriff’s Office,” he argued.

Honsal was hand-picked as the undersheriff and de-facto successor of former Sheriff Mike Downey in 2013 and then elevated by the Board of Supervisors to the role of interim sheriff in 2017. He ran unopposed in 2018 and 2022.

Humboldt County was also named as a defendant in the suit, alongside Campadonia and the Sheriff’s Office. The county rejected a claim for damages that Mainzer’s office submitted on behalf of Dickson in March.

Campadonia, a four-year veteran with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, earned just shy of $158,000 in pay and benefits last year, according to data collected by Transparent California. The $150,000 settlement will be paid from the county’s risk management fund.

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DOCUMENT: Honsal’s letter to Campadonia