The media has been busy highlighting the supposed moral superiority of law enforcement officers opposed to Arizona’s SB 1070. The darling of the anti-Arizona effort is Phoenix police officer David Salgado who sued Arizona claiming that he wouldn’t be able to keep himself from racially profiling people if SB 1070 were to remain law.
The CBS affiliate in Phoenix has broken a story which highlights a part of Mr. Salgado's past that the mainstream media has decided to forget. While on the police force, Officer Salgado and his brother were reprimanded for stealing toys from a charity drive. The toys, which were intended to bring joy to needy families, instead ended up going to the Salgados' family members. As CBS explains:
Phoenix police Officer David Salgado has often said he is fighting Senate Bill 1070 in court on moral grounds.
"I knew right then and there that I did the right thing," Salgado said when he watched his attorney bring the first legal challenge to Arizona’s new immigration law.
But Salgado, the point man for the suit, has a moment in his police past that raises serious moral questions.
"It's a name I will never forget till I die, and I thought, 'Wow, I can't believe that guy is in the news,'" said W. Steven Martin, founder of the W. Steven Martin Police Toy Drive, a charity in the Valley for which officers bring toys to families that have very little of their own.
In 1997, David Salgado and his police officer brother Rick were accused of taking toys intended for needy children and giving them to their own extended families.
"It was unbelievable that somebody would put personal greed over a family they could make a difference with for a lifetime," Martin said.
Rick Salgado lost his job over the incident, but according to CBS 5 News archives, the police review board recommended David Salgado be suspended for 240 hours.
Officer Salgado is suing Arizona with the help of "Chicanos Por La Causa" – an open-border group that previously sued Arizona over their "Legal Arizona Workers Act," which requires employers to use E-Verify. The 9th Circuit ruled against La Causa.
The full article and a video report are available online.
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