A former Compton police officer who used to help put criminals in jail is himself behind bars today. Retired officer Thomas Zampiello, 67, of Yucca Valley, was arrested Friday afternoon after his wife told Sheriff’s deputies he threatened her and rammed her car. According to a Sheriff’s report, Zampiello went to a home in the 7600 block of Frontera Avenue in Yucca Valley about 11:40 a.m., armed with a bowie knife, and yelled for his wife to come outside. The wife got in her car and started driving northbound on Frontera, and Zampiello followed in his car, ramming her silver Mercury from behind with his beige Honda. When deputies arrived, the woman told them that Zampiello threatened to break out the house windows and kill her. Thomas Zampiello was arrested for investigation of felony spouse abuse, making criminal threats, and assault with a deadly weapon. Zampiello was booked at West Valley Detention Center with his bail set at $250,000. Sheriff’s deputies also took for safekeeping 19 firearms belonging to Zampiello. In 1990, Thomas Zampiello was a Compton police officer and was named as a defendant in a class action lawsuit against the County of Los Angeles and various law enforcement agencies, in which the defendants were accused of mistreating minority suspects. The lawsuit was settled in 2006.
