Two Morgan Hill Police Officers interrupted tonight’s Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education meeting and briefly detained School Board Trustee Rick Badillo after receiving a call that he was carrying a concealed weapon.
In a frantic scene about 9 p.m. Feb. 2, the officers entered through a back door to the MHUSD board room located at 15600 Concord Circle as Badillo was walking to the front door. He had just been notified by Superintendent Steve Betando that the police wanted to talk to him.
The officers caught up to Badillo just outside the boardroom and told him to put his hands behind his back before escorting him through an office area adjacent to the meeting room and then outside. The packed-house of audience members rushed to the front entrance to see what was happening.
After being frisked by police, Badillo spoke with the officers. A construction worker by trade, Badillo said he came straight from work and had a utility tool attached to his belt. It is something he always carries on him, he told police.
Badillo was unaware who called the police but said the incident was just part of a “political witch hunt” to discredit him. Badillo and two board allies have been at odds with district leadership and three other trustees for some time.
Betando said he did not call the police but happened to bump into them on his way to the restroom, where the officers explained that they needed to talk to Badillo. The superintendent asked if they could speak with him in the back instead of making a scene in the boardroom. However, when he told Badillo the police wanted to speak with him in the back, Badillo said he would walk out the front door instead. As he attempted to do so, the two officers walked steadily to catch up to him just as he exited the boardroom still inside the district office.
The incident only added to the heightened tension of the evening where the school board deadlocked in a 3-3 vote on a key decision that could have censured embattled trustee David Gerard.
With Badillo still outside talking to spectators, the board then voted to suspend the meeting instead of continuing after the incident.
A special meeting will be scheduled to discuss the Proposition 39 facilities request submitted by Voices charter school to MHUSD. That item was on the Feb. 2 agenda but was not discussed due to the meeting’s suspension.
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