Disciplined San Luis Obispo police officer sues the city

February 23, 2025

Officer Blake Etherton

By KAREN VELIE

A San Luis Obispo police officer who was docked pay and demoted following allegations of excessive force, retaliation and poor decision making is suing the city for violating his right to due process, according to a Jan. 13 lawsuit.

In regards to three separate cases, the city suspended Blake Etherton for a total of 124 hours and “removed him from all specialty and collateral assignments including SWAT, Rangemaster, and field training officer.” Etherton appealed the third case while arguing past misconduct should not have been considered, according to Etherton’s lawsuit.

Arbitrators then suggested overturning some allegations and adjusting the discipline. The SLO City Council rejected the arbitrator’s suggestions and upheld the original discipline in an action Etherton argues violated his “right to due process.”

Etherton accused of taking unnecessary risks and endangering others

Over the span of a day and a half in June 2020, Mason James Lira shot a San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s deputy, an Arroyo Grande police officer, a California Highway Patrol officer and a Kings County sheriff’s deputy. On June 11, 2020, Etherton was involved in a shootout in Paso Robles in which Lira was shot and killed.

On Dec. 8, 2020, police administration placed Etherton on paid administrative leave while they looked into allegations Etherton “took unnecessary risk when using force” during the shooting in Paso Robles, according to the investigation report.”

Investigators determined Etherton used poor decision making and took unnecessary risk while he fired at Lira. Multiple law enforcement officers and deputies were located between Etherton and Lira while he shot at the suspect.

Etherson accused of using excessive force

On Oct. 28, 2020, Etherton participated in the arrest of Uhunoman Ighodaro. The suspect was charged with two counts of resisting arrest.

In Dec. 2020, police administration informed Etherton he was under investigation regarding allegations he used “disproportionate and excessive use of force during the arrest of Ighodaro,” according to Etherton’s lawsuit.

The investigation determined Etherton violated use of force rules.

San Luis Obispo Police Chief Rick Scott recommended Etherton receive “temporary pay reduction equivalent to a 40-hour unpaid suspension,” and to be “removed him from all specialty and collateral assignments,” regarding both the Lira and Ighodaro incidents.

Etherton accused of retaliating against a videographer

A video of an officer hitting a man repeatedly on the temple in San Luis Obispo during an arrest on July 21, 2022 went viral, leading to accusations of excessive force.

“SLO County Observer,” also known as Gabriel Rosas, live streamed and uploaded the video on YouTube. While multiple commenters accused one of the three unnamed officers of brutality, others blamed the suspect for resisting arrest.

San Luis Obispo police officer threatens to punch suspect

Four days later, on July 25, 2022, Etherton and his partner Paul Sisemore responded to a dispatcher’s call of a woman screaming at the top of her lungs at a Food 4 Less on Higuera Street.

As they headed to Food 4 Less in separate patrol vehicles, Sisemore texted Etherton that he intended to pull over and ticket Rosas should any traffic violation involving Rosas’ vehicle occur,” according to Etherton’s lawsuit.

Instead of responding to the call, both Etherton and Sisemore decided to follow Rosas.

Sisemore later headed to Food 4 Less, but could not locate the woman. A call then came in that a man was challenging cars and throwing metal pipes onto the street at the intersection of Madonna Road and the Highway 101 off-ramp. Sisemore informed dispatch that both he and Etherton would respond to the call.

Even so, while Sisemore headed to Madonna Road, Etherton pulled Rosas over and cited him for not properly using his turn signal at the intersection of Higuera and Pismo streets.

However, Rosas did not turn at the intersection and was not required to activate his turn signal, video of the incident showed.

Rosas accused Etherton of retaliating against him while the officer asserted they were just headed in the same direction.

On July 22, 2022, Chief Scott sent an email to Rosas saying he also had concerns about the citation, and that he planned to review the allegation Etherton was retaliating against the videographer.

Nearly a year later, on June 19, 2023, Chief Scott gave Etherton a disciplinary notice that included, a temporary pay reduction equivalent to 100-hours unpaid work suspension and an order to “attend at least 16 hours of remedial training in ethics and tolerance, emotional intelligence, traffic enforcement, and review and acknowledge understanding of all applicable San Luis Obispo Police Department Lexipol policies.”

In his lawsuit, Etherton argues that no punitive act “shall be undertaken for any act, omission, or other allegation of misconduct if the investigation of the allegation is not completed within one year.” He also contends that the city’s decision to “sustain the discipline, despite the arbitrator’s findings and recommendations, is unfounded and violates Petitioner’s Constitutional right to due process.”

Etherton is asking the court to rescind the discipline imposed on him, reimburse him for loss in pay, and award court costs and attorney’s fees.

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The shooting was justified in my opinion. The other bullshit he should be disciplined for, he needs to treat the public better.


He fired the shot while several other officers were between him and the subject and it was not a coordinated procedure and against SLOPD policy. The other officers did not know his position and if they moved, he could have shot and killed them. https://opengov.slocity.org/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=187029&dbid=0&repo=CityClerk


Sounds like he is very petty and likes to use his badge to retaliate. Even his chief realizes this guy is a toxic problem for the SLOPD, and the city of SLO.


Sorry, I had some of the links wrong. These are the correct links.

Links to Videos:

https://www.youtuSlo County cops tackle Man (full footage)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvOwLkkxBGY&t=56s

Link to Brady List:

https://giglio-bradylist.com/individual/matthew-j-e-%20perlette

 


You’re absolutely right Murse when you say “SLOPD thrives on a lack of transparency.” However, they have to do something to attempt to conceal their gang activities. There are numerous other incidents in addition to Davidson in the video you reference, and Etherton in this article There are at least a couple of other incidents I can think of that might be far worse.

You may recall the small yapping dog killer Joshua Walsh who was able to kill a dog on his third shot from point blank range. Maybe he can take Etherton’s job as “rangemaster”. To my knowledge, no action was taken against him, possibly because his wife has some sort of command position in the department.

Then the most egregious incident is Magana and Perlette battening, injuring, hog-tying, arresting, and charging an innocent pedestrian in downtown SLO during broad daylight on July 7, 2022. The man turned out to be the wrong guy, and he told them his name at the beginning of the incident. When I tried to find out more about what happened to the guy and these two cops, my public records request was met with a nearly solid wall of denial and secrecy. I am pretty certain Magana was promoted to “Detective” after this incident, so the brass not only covers up wrong doing like in the case of Davidson, but actively encourages it by promotion as in the case of Magana. Perlette’s name shows up on the California Brady List, but there are no details as to what he did to get on the list.

Links to Videos: 

https://www.youtuSlo County cops tackle Man (full footage)

https://giglio-bradylist.com/individual/matthew-j-e-%20perlette

Link to Brady List:

https://giglio-bradylist.com/individual/matthew-j-e-%20perletteFrom


Officer Sisemore also wanted to retaliate and said he was going to try to find a reason to pull over the auditor. Not becoming or acceptable behavior from law enforcement. Is he being looked into, as well?


As they headed to Food 4 Less in separate patrol vehicles, Sisemore texted Etherton that he intended to pull over and ticket Rosas should any traffic violation involving Rosas’ vehicle occur,” according to Etherton’s lawsuit.”


SLOPD thrives on a lack of transparency. There are other videos that show they don’t want to be filmed doing their jobs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL_SBXd6fTs


They took an entire year to “investigate” and said there was no evidence to support the claim even though there was video evidence to support the claim.


SLOPD needs new leadership.


Qualified immunity needs to END.


Clearly you have no idea what “qualified immunity” is. This incident would not even be eligible for qualified immunity because there is well established law and case law for what happened. Google what it is so you are better informed.


Top-4 lies in support of Qualified Immunity.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QdpSDQuAB4


Good video with a clear anti QI slant. I was aware of all of what was said, and QI still does not apply to this article or case. By your reasoning, QI would be used every time an officer was in trouble. Clearly that is not the case as many have gone to prison in recent years. So, that fact alone shows that QI is not a blanket “get out of jail free card”, as they did not get out of jail.


Investigators determined Etherton used poor decision making and took unnecessary risk while he fired at Lira.

Negligent discharge of a firearm.

Ca. code PEN 246.3


The investigation determined Etherton violated use of force rules.

Assault

Ca. code PEN 240

.

On July 22, 2022, Chief Scott sent an email to Rosas saying he also had concerns about the citation, and that he planned to review the allegation Etherton was retaliating against the videographer

.

Deprivation of rights under color of law.

42 USC 1983





Sounds like a killer cop in the making. If not for the strength of the police union, this temperamentally unfit individual would be dismissed. I’m curious how long until we see Blake’s name and face come up again, and how long until the city of slo will be forced to pay out millions to settle suits stemming from this individual’s misconduct.