The Case of Officer David Root and Andrew Woolley

I had the opportunity to sit down with Andrew Woolley late last Friday to talk about his recent win. We had a long discussion about the win and about what he had learned.

One of the reasons Woolley admitted to being surprised about the outcome of the initial trial was due to a conversation he had with the supervisor of Officer David Root, who ticketed Woolley. After being ticketed, Woolley contacted Root’s supervisor, Sergeant Martinez, who agreed that Woolley should not have been ticketed. Martinez was surprised at the news of Woolley being ticked seeing as Woolley hadn’t run afoul of CVC 21202(a). Martinez volunteered to counsel Officer Root on the matter, a conversation that had left Woolley feeling confident that the trial ruling would be in his favor.

However, as we know, the ruling was not in Woolley’s favor. After the initial loss, Woolley made plans to appeal the ruling. Instead he found himself facing a new set of problems. After the trial, Officer Root paid a visit to Woolley’s place of employment along with a self-transcribed transcript of the traffic court’s proceedings and a complaint about Woolley. Woolley’s employer, per company protocol, had to investigate the claims made by Officer Root. So, in addition to appealing the verdict, Woolley now found himself facing a new set of problems from his employer.

Now that the City Attorney has ruled in Woolley’s favor, he is in the process of filling out the paperwork to report Officer David Root to the San Diego Citizens’ Review Board. Woolley hopes that the Citizens’ Review Board will take disciplinary action on Officer Root. We will keep you updated on this new course of events as we learn more.

Meanwhile, we have contacted the San Diego Police Department to find out what sort of training program is currently in place to ensure that San Diego Police officers understand the intent and purpose of CVC 21202(a).