OAKLAND — Disgraced former Antioch police Officer Eric Rombough took the witness stand Thursday to offer jurors the perspective of a cop who admits he hurt people to amuse himself.
Taking the stand against Morteza Amiri, his onetime close friend and colleague, Rombough carefully described how the two would go out searching for ways to inflict violence on the city’s residents. They offered to reward each other with a filet mignon dinner, or milk and cookies presented by the other’s wife, Rombough testified, as a woman among Amiri’s supporters shook her head.
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Speaking in a measured tone, Rombough went through specific instances where he shot people with a less-lethal shotgun that fires foam rubber rounds. He confirmed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Cheng he did so on multiple occasions while knowing it was excessive. When Cheng asked him why, his answer was blunt.
“I had the opportunity to,” Rombough replied. He later added, “I thought I could punish him. Teach him a lesson for not listening to our commands.”
Rombough would likely have gone to trial alongside Amiri, but for the fact that last January he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and civil rights violations, and agreed to testify at trial. In doing so, he expressed regret for his actions.
“I wanted to be a good role model for my two kids and take ownership for what I’ve done,” Rombough said. “I’d love to be able to clear my conscience, show my children and my family that if you make mistakes, you take responsibility for your mistakes. And hopefully that’ll get some clemency as well.”
He testified that he liked Amiri almost immediately after meeting him. The two shared a bond and wanted to be “proactive” cops who made good arrests, got guns off the streets and “make Antioch safer,” he said. Over time, their shared perspective began to get much darker.
At the beginning of their friendship, they would share pics of drugs or weapons they recovered from suspects. But later, they’d share trophies of police violence — gory photos from police dog bites, bruises from men Rombough shot with the less-lethal weapon, sandwiched between similar plans for the future.
“My viewpoint of the population changed,” said Rombough, who would regularly send racist texts to colleagues referring to Black people as “gorillas” and racist jokes. He later added, “I was frustrated that the arrests I was making weren’t being charged, and people weren’t being convicted.”
This was compounded when COVID-19 restrictions reduced the number of offenses where people could be booked into jail, he said.
“I felt the community we were policing no longer had any consequences for their actions,” Rombough said. “You kind of dehumanize them and don’t give them what they deserve.”
Antioch K9 Officer Morteza Amiri and his K9 partner Purcy in this Meet Your Beat Facebook post. (Antioch Police Department)
By the time the FBI raided Antioch and Pittsburg cops’ homes and workplaces as part of a massive corruption probe in early 2022, Rombough was making a shrine to police brutality in his home. He testified he would collect foam rubber rounds on his mantle, along with pictures of the people he shot, annotated with the dates.
Rombough was presented with text message exchanges between himself and Amiri. In one, they talked about plans to “f— someone up and hopefully you get a bite,” referring to Amiri’s use of his police dog, Purcy.
“Exactly, blood for blood,” Amiri replied, and Rombough responded in kind.
Cheng asked Rombough if this was a joke, likely seeking to undercut Amiri’s planned defense that these texts and others were mere “s— talking.”
“No,” Rombough flatly replied. “I was hoping to be able to get Amiri action with Purcy.”
Rombough and Amiri were among 14 ex-Antioch and Pittsburg cops charged in 2023 with a range of crimes, including civil rights violations, steroid distribution, firearms offenses, fraud and bribery. Until Wednesday, Amiri was joined at trial by former colleague Devon Wenger, a military veteran who maintains he was dragged into this case after angering higher-ups by trying to raise alarm bells about Rombough and others. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White declared a mistrial for Wenger, after his attorney filed a motion seeking one, and he will be tried separately later.
Prosecutors say Amiri, Wenger, and Rombough discussed and reveled in violence through texting groups. Amiri and Wenger’s attorneys countered that the texts were exaggerated and a form of relief for men too “tough” to go to therapy.
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