A San Diego-area police officer acquitted on charges of falsifying a police report in La Mesa, Calif., in May of 2020 is now fighting to get his job back. The case is expected to go before a California Superior Court judge on April 1. Matthew Dages, 31, was fired from the La Mesa Police Department after confronting 23-year-old Amaurie Johnson at the Metropolitan Transit System trolley station on May 27, 2020 in La Mesa, Calif., in the wake of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests. That day, police were patrolling the area and checking for trolley passes, and Johnson was reportedly detained for not having a transit pass. Johnson then allegedly became combative and pushed Dages, who arrested him and charged him with assaulting a police officer. The charges against Johnson were later dropped. A video of the incident went viral, with local activists focused on the fact that …