(Security footage from across the street that night.)
“Sheriff John Brown always hated me.
For what, I don’t know…”
– Bob Marley

As the family, and public, wait, and wait, and WAIT for so many important details on the December 2025 APD killing of 19-year old Albert Arzola, including:

• The autopsy – we still don’t know how many shots were fired, hit him, or where.
• The rest of the bodycam footage, unedited.
• The name of Nathan Garcia’s partner – the driver – who allegedly didn’t turn on his bodycam.
• Who shot Albert’s cousin a little later with beanbag rounds to the head sending him to the hospital?
• And who was responsible for the mistreatment of the “suspects” afterward, many of them young children?

…anyway, AS WE WAIT, it may be important for the public to know that Officer Nathan Garcia had at least a five-month HISTORY with Albert Arzola. Going back to Albert making fun of Nathan’s shoes last year.

Manuel, Joey

This past week marked the 14-year anniversary of two back-to-back killings by the APD back in 2012 – Manuel Diaz on Tuesday and Joel Acevedo on Wednesday – two killings (wrapping up 12 months of 7 killings) that led to riots, protests, modest reforms, grudging shakeups in the department, and no more killings for a couple years at least.

Officer Nick “Buckshot” Bennalack, who killed a total of four young men before being quietly let go, had no idea who Manuel Diaz was on July 21, 2012, he just didn’t like the way he leaned into a car on Anna Drive talking to someone, and then the way he ran when Nick yelled at him. Nick CLAIMED he thought Manuel was armed; of course he wasn’t.

But Joel Acevedo‘s killing has something in common with Albert Arzola’s – Kelly Phillips who killed Joey had known him for a while, the gang unit had been trying to pin something on Joey for months. And a couple years earlier Joey had mouthed off to one of them: when they rousted Joey at a bus stop doing nothing wrong and asked what his name was, Joey replied “BIG DADDY!” Kind of like Albert making fun of Nathan’s shoes. Some cops hold grudges for disrespectful shit like that.

It reminds me of how Buena Park Officer James Woo always had it in for 16-year old Jesus Aguirre (and lots of other young Buena Park Latinos.) At least Woo never killed Jesus (who last I heard is working in computers in the Bay Area now.) But he beat diminutive Jesus up when he was 14, really had it in for him, and when Jesus was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time doing something stupid (which should maybe have got him a year or two) Woo vowed in front of witnesses that he would “make sure he either spends the rest of his life in jail or is killed.” And Woo nearly succeeded in that, with the help of a friendly prosecutor and gullible jury, sending Jesus to Pelican Bay for life.

After eight years of activism by many people (documented on this blog), Governor Brown commuted Jesus’ sentence, and in 2018 he was briefly at home with his parents, getting ready to go off to computer school in SF. BUT BIG WOO COULDN’T LET HIM GO – he led a big raid on the Aguirres’ home searching for something – anything – to justify busting Jesus again! Woo FOUND A BASEBALL CAP, belonging to a cousin, that said “B” on it, and INSISTED it was gang related, and threw Jesus in jail for one more night. But Woo’s schemes fell through and Jesus remains free. We’d like to think there was some consequence for that – for Woo – but that’s doubtful, I hear he’s still a detective.

Anyway, that’s the kind of vendetta SOME cops hold against certain young men who may be cute, and free, and young, and popular, and have girlfriends, and make fun of them, and sometimes get away.

Remember, we Anaheim taxpayers just had to pay we-don’t-know-how-much money for Nathan Garcia and his partner beating up a 14-year old Latino bicyclist guilty of nothing, back in 2024, putting the kid in the hospital. (Not literally, his mom had to take him.)

And then a year later there was 19-year old Albert Arzola, nicknamed “Playboy,” working at the Honda Center, full of hopes and dreams. It was Officer Nathan Garcia who arrested Albert in July of 2025, for SUSPICION of GRAFFITI. His friends tell me he didn’t do it (just like we KNOW it wasn’t him in December, there’s video.) He just LOOKED like the guy someone described. I’m told while being arrested he made fun of Nathan’s shoes. “What was wrong with Nathan’s shoes?” I asked. “I don’t remember, he said they looked like they came from Walmart or something. That pissed Nathan off.”

Albert never ended up having his day in court for that. But I’m told Nathan came by 5 or 6 times between July and December, came up those Arzola steps on one pretext or another, just to mess with Albert and his family.

I observed, “Well if he’d been up there so many times you’d think he woulda known not to fall down while he was up there.” (Witnesses told us Nathan tumbled backward down the steps before he fired – and that’s how it looks both in the blurry footage above and Nathan’s bodycam footage.)

“Yeah, well, I guess he couldn’t help it, he’s so overweight.” Hey, I didn’t say it.

Let me just put this out there one more time: After the 2024 beating of the 14-year old, which was wrong AND cost us a lot of money, and after the Dec. 2025 killing of Albert, which sure looked unjustified and will cost us much more money, Nathan Garcia should not be out there still, patrolling, with a gun, on our payroll. Can we at least all agree on that?

*********************

One More Thing.

On Wednesday we posted a press release from attorney Sean Garcia-Leys, from the Peace & Justice Law Center – he is suing the Santa Ana Police for withholding important documents regarding the in-custody death 18 months ago of Freddie Washington, on the excuse that the DA investigation is still ongoing. Per the press release (and I guess I should know this) this is a direct violation of SB 1421, which allows law enforcement agencies to withhold documents for that reason for only 180 days.” Hey Arzolas – sounds like this should apply to you guys too.

I asked Sean, who says “That’s kind of a gray area. If there’s really a criminal investigation (by the DA, into the cops) they can delay release, but it has to be a real, active criminal investigation, not just that nobody’s heard from the DA yet. If the DA IS actually investigating cops, that should be newsworthy and public. The problem is the law isn’t clear on the DA’s responsibilities, just the police’s.”

An actual criminal investigation into a police killing, by Todd Spitzer? That WOULD be newsworthy. And likely as snow in Anaheim this month.

Sean is happy to help, but I know the Arzolas are working with the attorney James De Simone. I also know the Arzolas want this information to be as public as possible. I hope James is looking into this SB 1421 angle if the Arzolas want him to. That is all.

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