Heather Ewing v. City of Stockton

I. BACKGROUND

On the night of November 5, 2004, a fight broke out in the parking lot of Shaker’s Bar in Stockton between men who had been drinking at the bar and two men wearing “Jus’ Brothers” motorcycle club vests. Mark Donahue and several friends watched the fight. A woman bumped into or pushed Donahue, and Donahue yelled at her. The woman called out for help, and one of the men in vests struck Donahue with a Mag-lite flashlight and stabbed him, resulting in his death. The two men in vests left on motorcycles, with the woman on the back of one of them.

Stockton police officers Reyes and Hutto responded and took statements from witnesses, including Donahue’s friends, Brian Shirk and Richard Contreras. Shirk stated that the woman was “in her mid-thirties” and that he had “never seen these three people before but could definitely identify them if he saw them.” The next day, Shirk telephoned Reyes, stating that he had viewed photographs on the Jus’ Brothers website and recognized the woman. He then met with Reyes and pro- vided him with three website photos of the woman and later a recorded statement. A district attorney’s investigator identi- fied the woman as Heather Ewing,…