Plenty of odd crimes in Fresno, but vengeful jaywalker is a new one | Opinion
Time to add another entry into the list of reasons why jaywalking in California is no longer a crime.
Fear of jaywalkers who become unhinged after getting ticketed.
Fresno has more than its share of odd crimes, but a jaywalker carrying out a month-long “campaign of hate and revenge” against the cop who cited him isa unique entry in the Hall of Misdeeds.
For John Christopher Spatafore and the unidentified Fresno police officer suing him in civil court, the California law that permits jaywalking when “a reasonably careful person” would deem it safe came four years too late.
Had this happened since 2023, when the law went into effect, the officer who spotted Spatafore crossing the street mid-block could’ve permitted him to go along his merry way.
But since it was October 2019, the officer felt obliged to ticket Spatafore. And regardless of our feelings about that particular decision, there’s no excuse for what allegedly happened next.
Within days, the officer claims he started getting password reset notifications indicating his email was getting hacked. After that came the deluge of phone calls, emails and texts from luxury car dealerships, solar energy companies and retailers regarding online purchases he didn’t make.
That was only the beginning. Spatafore, who worked at Community Regional Medical Center in information technology, is accused of filing two bogus online police reports against the officer, according to the lawsuit. One described the motorcycle cop as riding without lights or sirens on the sidewalk and “appearing intoxicated and on drugs all while laughing aloud.” The second falsely alleged the officer’s wife was a victim of domestic violence.
Other ways Spatafore is alleged to have tormented the officer and his family ranged from irksome (trying to get the water turned off at their house on Thanksgiving) to completely deranged (messaging the officer and his wife saying they had been hacked and threatening the exposure of compromising videos).
“I require your 100% attention for the up coming 24hours, or will certainly make sure you live out of guilt for the rest of your life span...I know nearly everything about you ... ” Spatafore is accused of writing to the couple, according to the lawsuit.
Nearly a month after the harassment barrage began, Spatafore was pulled over while driving within a mile of the officer’s house. Police found a loaded, unregistered .38 special in the car, the lawsuit states.
Criminal case suspended
For an IT specialist, Spatafore did a poor job covering his cyber tracks. A search warrant connected Spatafore’s work IP address with the same one used to file the phony police reports, according to the lawsuit. He was fired by the hospital within hours of his arrest.
Police charged Spatafore with three felonies and two misdemeanors, but the 55-year-old’s lawyer managed to get the criminal case suspended after convincing a judge her client “was not in the right mental state at the time.”
As a result, Spatafore was sent to a mental health diversion program instead of being locked up.
Corina Burchfield, Spatafore’s attorney, defended how the case was adjudicated by saying her client is “a changed man” who is active in church and has been “remorseful and apologetic.”
“He lost his job of 17 years over this,” Burchfield told The Bee’s Bob Rodriguez, who wrote about the lawsuit for Fresnobee.com. “It was very out of character for him. It ruined his life.”
While people who suffer mental breakdowns deserve our understanding, sympathy shouldn’t be a given. In this instance, knowing what we know, it’s undeserved. Out of character or not, Spatafore ruined his own life by his own actions.
In his civil filing, the Fresno police officer targeted by Spatafore is seeking $16.5 million in punitive damages ($5.5 million apiece for himself, his wife and their daughter).
All because of a $196 jaywalking ticket, accompanied by a ten-cent revenge plot.
This story was originally published May 29, 2024 at 3:00 AM.
