Livingston police tried to cover for officer who was using illegal fireworks, report says
Two Livingston police officers accused of filing a false report allegedly did so to protect a local correctional officer from getting in trouble with his job after using illegal fireworks, according to an incident report obtained by the Sun-Star.
Sgt. Wapinder Kang, 34, and Officer Harjinder Singh Heer, 24, were arrested after investigators received information about a July 3 incident concerning a false arrest/citation of a Livingston resident, the Merced County District Attorney’s Office said.
Both men were released with a citation to appear in court due to the COVID-19 pandemic and emergency orders in effect at the Merced County Jail.
But an incident report from the Merced County District Attorney’s Office sheds light on the circumstances behind the arrests.
The incident report describes body camera footage recorded by a device worn by Heer on the night of July 3, when he was working a fireworks enforcement detail in Livingston.
After observing illegal fireworks being set off, Heer identified a residence as the source of the activity.
Kang then arrived at the home, too, but his body camera was not activated, the report says.
The two Livingston officers knocked on the front door and a female resident of the property answered. The woman admitted that fireworks were being set off at the home and stated that she had no knowledge of the activity being illegal.
The woman’s husband, identified in the report as Steven Norenberg, then emerged from the home. He initially denied any fireworks were fired, but was told by Heer that his wife had already confessed, the report says. Norenberg was identified by officers as being the individual who set off the fireworks.
But when Heer began writing a citation for the husband, Kang asked Norenberg if he would rather direct the citation to his wife.
Kang referred to Norenberg’s employment as a correctional officer with Deuel Vocational Institution, a state prison in Tracy, as reason to instead cite the man’s wife.
“I’m going to be real with you guys man. The last thing I want do do, you know. You trying to explain to your sergeant whatever it is . . . I know how it is man,” Kang said to the man, according to the incident report.
Kang then directed Heer to issue the citation to the man’s wife, a teacher. Heer voided the initial citation and wrote a new one for Norenberg’s wife, citing her for a misdemeanor offense, the report says.
Merced County District Attorney investigates incident
Another Livingston sergeant saw the July 3 body camera footage and was troubled by it, the incident report says. The footage was brought to the attention of Livingston Police Chief John Markle on July 9.
Having logged the body camera footage into evidence at the Merced County District Attorney’s Office, Chief Investigator Bill Olson and DA Investigator Bimley West later interviewed the Livingston couple at their home on July 21.
The correctional officer originally told investigators that no fireworks were fired from the residence on the night of July 3, but he later retracted that statement and apologized to DA officials for being untruthful.
Norenberg’s wife admitted to DA investigators that she was issued the citation despite not having set off any fireworks herself.
The correctional officer told investigators that since he wasn’t named in the citation, he didn’t have to report it to his employer. Kang directed Heer to write the citation to Norenberg’s wife, he told investigators.
“(Norenberg) stated that the (Livingston police) officer told him that he was not going to issue a citation to him because of his job with the Department of Corrections and told him that he would not want it to look bad for him,” the report says.
“(Norenberg) stated that the officer issued a citation to (his wife) because the officer was doing him a favor by not issuing the citation to him.”
The crime noted in the final citation did not support the facts of the situation, the report says, making the incident a crime of illegal arrest without probable cause.
Kang is accused of the crime of felony subornation of perjury and misdemeanor inducing false testimony, while Heer is cited for felony perjury and felony/misdemeanor false report by a peace officer.
Kang and Heer were both placed on paid leave more than a week ago, after the police chief was made aware of the incident. Officer Kang is the brother of Livingston City Councilman Gagandeep Kang.
This story was originally published July 30, 2021 at 12:32 PM.
