'Are you single?' California cop resigns after locking himself in backseat with female detainee
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - An officer with the San Diego Police Department resigned after being found in the backseat of his patrol car with a female suspect.
On August 14, 2023, Officer Anthony Hair arrested a woman on a bench warrant. Around 1:10 a.m. on August 15, Officer Hair transported the woman from Northern Division's substation to Las Colinas Detention Facility for jail booking.
According to an internal document, Hair arrived at Las Colinas at 1:33 a.m. At 1:44 a.m., he requested another officer meet him at the detention facility. Hair allegedly texted the other officer telling him to "come to his location as fast as he could, and he would explain the situation later," the document detailed. Hair also requested a spare patrol vehicle key.
At 2:37 a.m., the officer arrived at Hair's location and opened the back passenger side door. Hair came out "running" from the vehicle.
According to the second officer, who was not named in the document, Hair explained that he was checking his prisoner's pulse during a medical emergency and the door accidentally shut, locking him in the backseat with the female detainee. The document stated that Hair opened the door opposite of where she was sitting and climbed into the back seat. Hair said he planned to use his foot to keep the door open, but it accidentally shut.
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When asked if he had his body worn camera, Hair said he turned off the camera when he arrived at his location and placed it in the front seat of the patrol vehicle.
During an interview, the suspect denied any allegations of misconduct by former Officer Hair. She was then deemed medically unfit for jail booking and transported to a local hospital for treatment.
The next day, two detectives interviewed Hair where he stated there were no sexual or personal conversations between him and the suspect. During the interview he also told detectives he turned off his body worn camera. "It's a habit, that every time I am about to reach my destination, I radio I am on scene. I always do that," the document quoted Hair as saying. "I tried to activate my camera when I was inside already. That was when I realized I did not have it on."
Former San Diego Officer Anthony Hair.
He also told detectives that the camera's magnet mount remained on his uniform, but the camera had fallen off. He explained that he exited the vehicle so quickly that the camera hit the steering wheel, causing it to ‘pop off’ his uniform.
During the interview, Hair also said he didn't call paramedics because the woman woke up and denied the request. He said he thought the woman was overdosing, as she was not responding to his calls, so he "got all the way into the back cabin to try to pull [her] into an upright seated position".
Following the interview, Hair demonstrated his actions on video. He also provided his police uniforms, and signed consent to search his truck and police locker.
On August 17, the detective asked Hair for his department-issued body worn camera's magnet mount. Hair later advised the detective that he had retained an attorney. Following an inspection of the magnet count and camera, it was determined that both the mount magnets and connection clasp were functional and not damaged or defective. Investigators also said, "the body magnet mount possessed a very strong and secure locked position and would not fall off or become dislodged in any manner."
Investigators combed through the video footage recorded by Hair and shared a few of their interactions.
At the 38:13 mark, Hair entered the driver's seat of the patrol vehicle.
At the 38:21 mark, SUSPECT asked Hair, "Are you married?" Officer Hair responded, "Why are you asking that?" SUSPECT'S response was unintelligible. Hair then stated "What do you mean? I'm cool to you." SUSPECT then said "You're not too bad."
At the 39:36 mark, Hair started driving the patrol vehicle.
At the 46:53 mark, a loud noise was heard. Hair asked SUSPECT "What was that?" SUSPECT responded, "Oh, that was the seatbelt, I'm laying down."
At the 47:08 mark, Hair asked SUSPECT, "What you trying to do?" SUSPECT did not respond to the question. Hair asked twice. "Did you unbuckle yourself?" SUSPECT responded, "I'm sorry, I can't hear you." Hair asked, "I said, did you take your seatbelt off?" SUSPECT started moaning in a sexual manner for the next ten seconds.
At the 47:30 mark, SUSPECT moaned again and said, "Yeah baby." SUSPECT continued to moan in a sexual manner once more.
At the 47:56 mark, SUSPECT giggled and stated something unintelligible. Hair then stated, "I'm not the mean one."
At the 48:14 mark, Hair asked if she had identification. She told him she had lost it.
At the 49:05 mark, the patrol vehicle arrived at the entry gate of the headquarters and Hair ended the BWC recording.
Another video recording was released. This recording occurred as Hair exited the gates of Northern Division's substation.
At the 5:22 mark, SUSPECT asked Hair, "Are you single?" Hair responded, "Yeah." A moment later, Hair stated, "But you're not." As Hair made his statement, he put his right palm up and made another statement.
The two then spoke for another two minutes, but it was difficult to understand, the document noted.
At the 7:16 mark, Hair stated, "I'll tell you after, hold on."
At the 9:15 mark, Hair stated, "a little bit."
At the 9:19 mark, Hair stated, "I can hear you now."
At the 9:24 mark, it sounded as if SUSPECT stated, "I'm down to f*ck." Hair responded, "Don't say that right now." Hair then stated, "No, I said don't say that right now because everything's being recorded right now."
At the 10:08 mark, Hair asked SUSPECT "You know that Las Colinas is in Santee, right?" Hair and SUSPECT remained silent for the next several minutes.
At the 15:04 mark, Hair asked, "Are you still up?" It did not sound like SUSPECT verbally responded to the question. Hair kept asking her "Are you doing good back there" and "What's going on", but the woman did not respond.
At the 24:51 mark, Hair made a right-hand turn at a traffic signal, he turned off the BWC recording.
On September 14, Officer Hair resigned from the department. Hair said he was not willing to participate in the Subject Officer Interview which was scheduled for the next day.
Following Hair's resignation announcement, the San Diego Police Department released the following statement:
"The San Diego Police Department takes all allegations and acts of misconduct seriously. This incident was investigated by the department’s Professional Standards Unit (PSU) to the fullest extent. The individual is no longer employed with the San Diego Police Department."