VANCOUVER, Wash. — A jury returned a not-guilty verdict for Vancouver police officer Andrea Mendoza on Monday afternoon. Mendoza was standing trial on charges of fourth-degree assault after she threatened to tase a shoplifting suspect in the genitals during an arrest in May 2023.
After closing arguments were presented in the third day of trial Monday morning, the jury deliberated for about five hours before returning the verdict.
The incident, which occurred on May 21, 2023, was captured on surveillance video from Walmart and on the officers' body camera.
Officers confronted the shoplifting suspect, Elijah Guffey-Prejean, who was 19 at the time, and wrestled him to the ground. He tried to get away and while officers were trying to get him on his stomach and put him in handcuffs, he punched one officer in the face and another in the chest. Once he was back on the ground, Mendoza deployed a taser on his back and then pulled down his pants and threatened to use the taser on his genitals.
During the trial, Guffey-Prejean admitted to shoplifting and agreed with the defense's assertion that he was resisting arrest. Mendoza testified on Friday, the second day of trial, and said she was trying to stop Guffey-Prejean from continuing to fight. Her defense added that officers are allowed to use force when necessary.
"My intention was to stop the fight," Mendoza said Friday. "It was going on long enough, to control the situation."
Prosecutors challenged that exposing Guffey-Prejeans' genitals and threatening to tase him there went beyond training officers receive and was unlawful.
“She assaulted him when she put her taser against those genitals,” Prosecutor Lauren Boyd said.
However, the defense argued that Mendoza's actions were reasonable because Guffey-Prejean initially attempted to flee.
“I would actually argue an ordinary person, who had shoplifted, resisted arrest and assaulted two officers would not be terribly offended by any of the touching applied,” defense attorney John Terry said.
Once Mendoza was found not guilty, the Vancouver Police Officers' Guild released a statement saying Mendoza did her best to react to a violent altercation.
A Vancouver Police Department spokesperson said that Mendoza will remain on administrative leave. An internal investigation into her conduct will now resume. It was paused until the trial concluded.