Temecula Man Awarded $500,000 for False Arrest for Daring Riverside County Deputy Sheriff to Arrest Him

Deputy Sheriff Fired for False Arrest & Excessive Force

Newport Beach, CA, February 28, 2025

On September 14, 2022 at approximately 6:30 p.m. Gregory Bruce Whaling, Jr. was walking his dog with his longtime girlfriend and partner of 35 years, Karen Porter, at his apartment complex; the Madera Vista Apartments on Margarita Road in Temecula, California.

Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Sheriff Robert Glaser was speaking with a “homeless” man named “Ed”, when plaintiff Gregory Whaling and Karen Porter were walking by them on the way to their apartment the Madera Vista Apartments.

Deputy Glaser was at the Madera Vista Apartments in response to a call for service, complaining about “Ed”’s behavior by one of the residents of the Apartments to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. As Gregory Whaling and Karen Porter, were walking to their apartment on the sidewalk by Deputy Glaser and “Ed”, “Ed” told Deputy Glaser there goes one of the persons who has been complaining about him; Gregory Whaling. Gregory Whaling acknowledged to Depuy Glaser that he had complained about “Ed”, and Gregory Whaling and Karen Porter then kept on walking away from the two toward their apartment.

Even though plaintiff Gregory Whaling and Karen Porter kept walking away from Deputy Glaser, Deputy Glaser yelled to Mr. Whaling to “Go over there”; away from them, which they did.As Gregory Whaling and Karen Porter continued walking away from “Ed” and Deputy Glaser, for some bizarre reason Deputy Glaser told Mr. Whaling to “Go over there, I’ll be with you”, and “Go over there or I’m going to put you in the back of my car”.

In response to the threat by Deputy Glaser to put Mr. Whaling in his patrol car, Mr. Whaling stopped walking away from Deputy Glaser, turned around, pulled up his shorts legs and told Deputy Glaser “I’ll be you won’t; not with these”; showing Deputy Glaser his surgical scars from his double knee replacement surgeries. Moreover, Mr. Whaling was barely walking with the aid of a cane.

Deputy Glaser then rushed up to Mr. Whaling and told him that he was under arrest. Deputy Glaser grabbed Mr. Whaling and told him to put his hands behind his back, and Mr. Whaling dropped his cane and was trying not to fall down on his obviously injured knees.

Deputy Glaser told Mr. Whaling that if he didn’t place his right hand behind his back that he was going to tase him. Mr. Whaling was protested to Deputy Glaser, “For what?” and “What did I do?”, and Deputy Glaser said for interfering with his investigation; an absurd statement.

Mr. Whaling was already scheduled for another replacement knee surgery on both of his knees, and the knee replacements that he had done were coming lose.

Deputy Glaser then grabbed Mr. Whaling, tackled him down onto the sidewalk, handcuffed him and took Gregory Whaling to jail on a bogus charge of violation of Cal. Penal Code § 148(a)(1); resisting / obstructing / delaying a peace officer in the performance of his duties.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges against Mr. Whaling, and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department fired Deputy Glaser for falsely arresting and using excessive force upon Mr. Whaling.

Gregory Whaling’s lawyer, Newport Beach Civil Rights Attorney Jerry L. Steering said that he was surprised that the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department fired Deputy Glaser:

“I have been suing the police for 41 years now, and have been suing the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department since the mid-1980s.

I have seen much worse behavior by Riverside County Sheriff’s Department deputy sheriffs and have seen literally hundreds of false arrests and fabricated criminal prosecutions for resistance offenses such as violations of Cal. Penal Code § 148(a)(1) by Riverside County Sheriff’s Department deputy sheriffs.

I have never seen a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department deputy sheriff get disciplined at all for falsely arresting an innocent for a resistance offense, or for wrongfully beating or tasing or pepper-spraying, or even wrongfully shooting and killing innocent people.”

Gregory Whaling sued Deputy Glaser and the County of Riverside for his false arrest and the use of force upon him during the September 14, 2022 incident; Gregory Bruce Whaling, Jr. v. County of Riverside and Robert Glaser, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Case Number 5:23-cv-01817-DSF-SP

The County of Riverside settled that case for $498,000.00.