Critical comments made by a Santa Ana city councilman about the police department are raising questions over whether such speech is protected by the First Amendment or amounts to harassment that creates a hostile work environment.
City hired investigators are expected to probe back to back complaints filed in July by three police officers alleging Councilman Johnathan Hernandez harassed them by making critical comments about them online.
The complaints have already been investigated by the city’s human resources department, but officials are refusing to publicly say what they found in the internal probe into a city councilman who has been a vocal critic of the police union – one of the biggest spenders in local elections.
Instead a majority of council members – who are bracing for an expected $30 million deficit in a few years – directed staff this month to hire outside investigators to look into the complaints that city officials had previously refused to release to the public.
[Read: Santa Ana Launches Probe into Police Union Critic After Cops’ Complaints]
Until now.
In redacted versions of the complaints released to Voice of OC by the city this month, the officers mainly say Hernandez is creating a hostile workplace for them and jeopardizing their safety by criticizing them on social media and referring to them online as murderers.
The complaints came as Hernandez lambasted proposed changes to the police oversight commission that could dial back its power to hold police officers accountable and after he publicly criticized the police’s use of force against anti-ICE protestors.
Councilmember Johnathan Ryan Hernandez, center, sits with other attendees during discussion of his censure at the Santa Ana City Council meeting on Oct. 7, 2025. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
Hernandez has denied that he has harassed the police officers and said he has been harassed by certain police officers in the city over the years – a claim union officials say Hernandez has never shown proof of to them.
He also said he campaigned on holding police accountable and it his First Amendment right to make those comments, especially when it’s about an officer being investigated for multiple shootings.
“Those criticisms are valid, and our First Amendment rights apply to be able to critique what is happening on our public taxpayer dollars. I am reserved that same right as well,” Hernandez said in a Wednesday interview, adding his remarks haven’t impacted the police officers’ employment.
“To be pro-justice does not make you anti-police, and to be pro-accountability does not make you anti-police, and that narrative is an irresponsible one that hurts Americans and creates further distrust between our police department.”
The police union spent over $50,000 against Hernandez’s reelection campaign last year.
John Kachirisky, president of the Santa Ana Police Association, said creating or spreading false narratives can do long term harm to someone’s reputation especially when it comes from someone of influence.
“This is part of the problem as to why politics has become so toxic in this day and age. It seems most people do not care about truth and facts, only about sensationalist narratives meant to drive public anger,” reads his statement in a Wednesday email.
“This damage could cause irreparable harm to one’s character and reputation since it is on the internet forever.”
Kachirisky said the union was not involved in the officers’ decision to file the complaints.
Santa Ana Police Officer speaks to a homeless person. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC
David Loy, legal director of the nonprofit First Amendment Coalition, said elected officials generally have the right to comment on anything, especially issues of public concern.
“Workplace harassment is the kind of thing that goes beyond criticism. It’s so severe and pervasive that it makes it almost literally impossible to do your job in the workplace,” he said in a Wednesday phone interview.
“Police officers carry a gun and a badge, and potentially exercise enormous power and a certain amount of criticism just goes with the territory of holding their kind of job.”
Kachirisky said there has to be a line between freedom of speech and creating a toxic workplace.
“At the end of the day, Hernandez has a position of authority over all of the city employees and to say this authority figure has a First Amendment right to verbally abuse his own employees opens up a can of worms and I don’t believe any labor union would stand for their members to be treated in such a way by their boss,” reads his statement.
Hernandez said a hostile workplace is never acceptable which is why police officers aren’t “judge, jury and executioner.”
“They’re talking about First Amendment rights being contentious, but somebody being murdered for being unarmed is not something that they think we should raise our arms up about,” he said.
“I disagree. I don’t think that’s justice.”
Both Kachirisky and Hernandez said the city should release the human resources investigation findings to the public and the independent investigation into the complaints.
Paul Eakins, a city spokesman, did not respond to emailed questions Wednesday on whether the city would publicly release the results of both the internal investigation and city contracted one.
He also did not respond to questions on who the city is contracting to do the investigation or how much the city is spending on it.
The Santa Ana Police Department building on April 6, 2024. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
Hernandez isn’t the only person police officers in the city say have harassed them.
In August, the police union sent journalist Ben Camacho – who often writes about Santa Ana police – a cease and desist letter demanding he stop reaching out to its members to ask them questions or face legal actions.
[Read: Does Santa Ana’s Police Union View Criticism and Questions as Harassment?]
What’s in The Complaints?
Hernandez previously said multiple times one of the police officers who filed the complaint said his cousin, Brandon Lopez, had a gun when Anaheim police officers shot and killed him in 2021 but Lopez was unarmed.
In one of the redacted complaints, the officer – whose name is redacted – accused Hernandez of reposting a “defamatory ‘murder flyer’” referencing Lopez’s killing on his social media accounts that depicts the officer as a murder suspect and was previously circulated internally in the police department.
“The public reposting of provably false information by a sitting councilmember – is not only defamatory, retaliatory, and deeply damaging to my reputation and mental well-being,” reads the complaint.
To view complaint #1, click here.
In the complaint, the officer adds that the killing was investigated by the State Attorney General’s office, the OC District Attorney’s office and the police department’s internal affairs and that all three agencies cleared them of any criminal liability.
Anaheim officials ultimately agreed to pay out a nearly $6 million settlement to the four children of Lopez.
The officer also wrote in his email to officials that he made a formal complaint about the flyer when he first saw it and it was investigated by the department and a city hired investigator but no corrective action was taken.
In the complaint, he said he’s suing the city and that Hernandez’s actions have endangered his safety and contributed to a hostile workplace.
“This reposting is part of a clear pattern of harassment and retaliation stemming from my civil lawsuit filed nearly three years ago, which outlined discrimination, denial of advancement opportunities, and targeted mistreatment within the Santa Ana Police Department,” reads the complaint.
The Santa Ana City Council meeting on July 1, 2025. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
Hernandez previously said multiple times the other two officers who filed complaints against him were involved in the shooting death of Noe Rodriguez at the end of last year.
The killing of Rodriguez sparked resident calls for accountability this past summer and is currently under investigation by the state attorney general’s office – a standard practice for police shootings of unarmed people.
According to an OC Register article, Rodriguez was holding a fake gun.
In the second redacted complaint, an officer – whose name is withheld in the document – alleges Hernandez has created a hostile work environment by publicly slandering him on Instagram.
“Among other allegations, Councilman Hernandez accused me of ‘street terrorism,’ declared that I was ‘murdering members of the public,’ and labeled me ‘corrupt,’” reads the second complaint.
“This orchestrated character assassination has isolated me from colleagues and destroyed community trust developed over years of service.”
To view complaint #2, click here.
In the complaint, the officer also alleges that Hernandez’s “associates” have followed him home and taken pictures of his personal vehicles.
“Hernandez’s retaliation threats manifest physically through associates. I fear retaliation or harassment by Councilman Hernandez or his associates at city hall,” reads the second complaint.
Hernandez also denied that allegation and said the investigation won’t be able to substantiate he harassed anyone.
“If there continues to be allegations from officers that clearly they cannot substantiate. I’m going to consider legal action against these officers,” he said.
“They could look through every record the city has, every body cam the city has, every email, every message – they will not be able to substantiate that I am a council member that is harassing any employee.”
In the last redacted complaint, the third unnamed officer also alleges Hernandez’s social media posting has created a hostile work environment and put the officer’s safety at risk and that council member called him a murderer in a livestream related to an incident on Dec.1 last year – the day Rodriguez was killed.
“I now avoid public places in Santa Ana due to credible safety concerns. I am regularly subjected to harassment, online abuse, and constant fear that I may be followed or targeted,” reads the third complaint.
“I no longer feel safe attending community events or even shopping in the city I swore to protect.”
To view complaint #3, click here.
Two complaints shared similarity in language.
“This matter goes beyond political disagreement — it is a question of accountability, workplace safety, and lawful governance,” reads the first complaint.
“This matter is not political. It is a matter of safety, ethics, and lawful governance,” reads the third complaint.
Hernandez said he believes the complaints are a coordinated attack against him.
“I would say that it does have to do with the fact that these came shortly after me speaking out against the ICE raids that took place in Santa Ana,” he said. “Furthermore, they all happened concurrently, and they didn’t happen with the help of the Union.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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