Lawsuit filed against Atwater officials over alleged power abuse by city manager, police
A tenancy dispute last year involving Atwater’s city manager, the police chief and a former resident recently escalated with the filing of a lawsuit against the city and several employees.
Attorneys for Sandra Rahn, the former resident and a retired Atwater recreation supervisor of 20 years, filed the suit on Dec. 2 — a little over a year after the initial incident took place in November 2020.
Rahn, who had been renting a residence from Atwater City Manager Lori Waterman, said the top city executive during that incident abused her authority by using the city’s police officers in an attempt to solve a private tenancy dispute.
The suit alleges Rahn suffered unreasonable force, assault and breach of covenant of quiet enjoyment.
Rahn is seeking damages from the city, the police department, Waterman, Police Chief Michael Salvador and Officer Evan Pitney for their alleged violation of her civil and constitutional rights.
Rahn’s attorneys have requested a jury trial for the case. The lawsuit was filed at the Eastern District of California federal court in Fresno.
City denied allegations
The suit comes on the heels of a government claim filed by Rahn against the City of Atwater in May.
Atwater hired Shaw Law Group to carry out a third-party investigation of the claim, including interview of individuals involved in the incident, including Rahn, and review of relevant documents and evidence.
The completed investigation “did not substantiate Ms. Rahn’s concerns that Chief Salvador or Ms. Waterman abused or otherwise misused their respective offices in connection with Waterman and Rahn’s landlord-tenant dispute,” a statement sent to the Sun-Star by the City of Atwater said at the time.
The city rejected Rahn’s claim in full later in June.
“We know that that was just a washed out, one-sided report,” Adam Stewart, a Modesto-based attorney representing Rahn in the lawsuit, said of the investigation’s findings.
Stewart requested to see the investigation report, but never received a copy.
“We look forward to getting this case vigorously litigated and getting to the bottom of the so-called ‘no wrongdoing investigation’ that was paid for with Atwater taxpayer dollars and concealed from the victim and her counsel,” Stewart said in an email to the Sun-Star.
After her claim was rejected by the city, Rahn told the Sun-Star that she wasn’t surprised.
Rahn said she fully intended to proceed with a lawsuit within the next several months, which she did on Dec. 2.
Atwater City Attorney Frank Splendorio declined to make a statement concerning the lawsuit, but told the Sun-Star that his previous comments concerning Rahn’s claim stands.
Splendorio has previously said that the accusations of power abuse against the police chief and city manager are an inaccurate characterization of what occurred between Rahn and Atwater employees.
The dispute behind the lawsuit
The lawsuit stems from a conflict that came to a head on Nov. 17 and 18 of 2020, when Rahn was renting a property from Waterman that the city manager was in the process of selling.
When Waterman gave her notice to move out, Rahn said she complied, but she didn’t want outside individuals entering the property while she was still a tenant.
Rahn cited the COVID-19 pandemic and recent traumatic loss of a loved one as reasons for requesting that a real estate inspector refrain from entering the home for two weeks until she got her affairs in order and moved out.
Waterman denied this request and said the inspection had to take place sooner.
The disagreement eventually resulted in the Atwater police chief and another officer showing up at the property. Rahn and her attorney alleged the top city executive abused her authority by using the city’s police officers in an attempt to solve a private tenancy dispute.
Videos of the incident obtained by the Sun-Star show Rahn being told by Police Chief Salvador — while another officer stood — by that the inspection was necessary for the home’s sale to move forward.
The footage shows emotional — and at times heated — discourse between Rahn and her family, Waterman, Salvador and another officer at the rental property.
It is unclear how Atwater police became aware of the disagreement and were called to the property. The Sun-Star filed a Public Records Act request with the City of Atwater with the intent of discovering this, but was told that no responsive records concerning the request were found.
Rahn asserted that the city manager and police chief abused their power in leveraging city law enforcement.
She and her attorney alleged the city’s top cop never would have personally interfered if the property was owned by someone other than Atwater’s city manager.
Waterman previously told the Sun-Star in an email that, “The only statement I want to make clear, is that this was a personal and civil issue as a property owner and tax payer in Atwater, not as the City Manager, nothing different than any other resident.”
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 3:39 PM.
