HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Guam Police Department has launched an internal investigation into officers involved in the apprehension of a man who the department alleged had methamphetamine and evaded and resisted arrest.
On Tuesday morning, police saw a motorcycle in the Dededo area speeding and driving onto oncoming traffic. Officers activated blue lights and sirens to conduct a traffic stop, according to court documents.
The motorcyclist, later identified as Joshua Paul Taitano, allegedly refused to stop and continued to encroach into oncoming traffic and evaded officers until he took a turn onto Salisbury Street.
According to the magistrate’s complaint, Taitano jumped off the motorcycle and attempted to climb the gate of a residence in an attempt to resist arrest by “pulling his arms away from the officers and kicking his feet.”
However, home surveillance footage appeared to show Taitano, while still on his motorcycle, was hit by one of two patrol cars following him, which caused him to fall to the ground. Then the officer who drove the car stopped, immediately exited his vehicle, ran toward Taitano and tackled him up against the gate of a residence.
Three other officers appeared to restrain Taitano, who was brought to the ground and surrounded by officers in the video. Taitano was escorted to a patrol car minutes later.
Taitano had a black sling pouch on him which contained two baggies of methamphetamine and a glass pipe, police alleged, as reported in a magistrate’s complaint filed Wednesday in the Superior Court of Guam.
Taitano was charged with possession of a Schedule II controlled substance as a third-degree felony, eluding a police officer as a misdemeanor, resisting arrest as a misdemeanor and vehicle without identification as a misdemeanor.
‘Beating on him’
While Taitano’s charging documents allege he was resisting arrest, the homeowner whose camera caught the incident, Tanya Shiroma, thought Taitano wasn’t resisting and officers used excessive force.
“There was a lot of yelling. … Not to get down on the ground, … more like they were fighting with somebody,” said Shiroma, who explained to The Guam Daily Post she woke up about 5 a.m. hearing noises that sounded like someone on a speaker and seeing flashing lights.
“He wasn’t resisting arrest or anything. … They were beating on him and there wasn’t just one, there was a few officers out there beating on him,” Shiroma said. “They were punching, kicking, … (and) stomping on him. … One officer put all his weight on him, (and was) standing on him.”
At first, Shiroma said Taitano was wearing a motorcycle helmet when he was confronted by officers, but they later ripped his helmet off. That’s when Shiroma realized Taitano was her pari, or godfather of her child.
“We realized that was my pari, but my boyfriend before that was telling (the officers) to get a medic because he needs a medic. … This was before the helmet was off,” Shiroma explained.
Regardless of who it was, however, Shiroma said she felt the police shouldn’t have handled the situation the way they did.
“I was scared because it could have been anybody they were doing that to. It’s not right. … (The) police are supposed to be there to protect and serve, not to beat you up.”
Investigation launched
On Thursday afternoon, Guam Police Department spokesperson Officer Berlyn Savella told The Guam Daily Post an Internal Affairs investigation “was ordered for the allegations of assault by officers within our department.”
Taitano’s mugshots show he suffered bruising and swelling around his face. His left eye, in particular, is black and nearly swollen shut in the photo released by the Department of Corrections. Savella confirmed Taitano was taken to the hospital after being arrested.
As of press time, she couldn’t confirm how many officers were being investigated, but stated the officers hadn’t been placed on administrative leave without pay.
When told the officers involved were being investigated, Shiroma said it was good the officers were being held accountable.
“They need to do something about it because it’s bad that police are behaving that way. They need to be held accountable for their actions,” Shiroma said. “I would be pretty upset if nothing was being done.”
Shiroma, however, added maybe it shouldn’t be police officers investigating themselves.
“Maybe the (attorney general) should be doing it, not GPD,” she added.
Other inquiry
The internal investigation into the officers involved in Taitano’s arrest is the second to be launched this week.
The first was in the case of Peter Leon Guerrero, who was charged with aggravated assault in connection to a fight in Tumon on July 31 that left a man unconscious and needing to be hospitalized.
In light of the investigations, Shiroma said she felt GPD was a “good department, but there’s always a few bad apples.”
“I think that you need to take care of those bad ones because there are bad ones just getting away with too much,” Shiroma told the Post.
Joshua Paul Taitano
A screenshot of video surveillance which captured the arrest of Joshua Paul Taitano on Tuesday morning, Aug. 22, 2023.
