The raid was not the first time Sontag’s conduct has been called into question and cost the department.
In 2007, video showed him ramming his squad car into a fleeing suspect, which triggered an internal investigation and a $100,000 settlement payment to the suspect, Jose Guzman Candilla.
And in 2009, Sontag fatally shot a woman who had led police on a high-speed car chase from Buena Park with her toddler in the back seat, records show. The DA’s office cleared Sontag of criminal wrongdoing, though the city settled a lawsuit by the family of Susie Young Kim for $2.45 million.
The personnel board that gave Sontag his job back has been around since at least the 1960s and has the power to overturn firings of city employees and reinstate them to their jobs with back pay.
Members of the board are appointed by the City Council, and can only be removed with cause, according to the city’s website.
Little is made public about these cases because of California’s police officers’ bill of rights, which restricts cities from disclosing almost anything about officer misconduct, discipline, or firings.
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