Torrance Police Sued Over Fracas Filmed on Video

Armed with a videotape of two policemen choking and beating a 20-year-old Torrance man, apparently into unconsciousness, attorneys filed suit Thursday against the Torrance Police Department on behalf of the man and five friends who all allege they were assaulted when police broke up a party last May.

The six men, ranging in age from 20 to 26, allege in the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that they were the victims of unprovoked attacks by Torrance police--first at the party and then after they were taken to the Police Department’s jail.

The men said they waited more than four months to make their allegations because criminal charges against them had not been resolved. Last week, all six pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace and paid $200 fines, according to their attorney, Hugh R. Manes.

Torrance Deputy Police Chief Jim Popp said Thursday that the two officers involved in the incident, James Lynch and Ross Bartlett, have been reassigned to desk jobs pending an internal review. Police officials were unaware of the allegations until shortly before Thursday’s press conference, Popp said, and have since asked the district attorney’s office to launch its own investigation.

“We are obviously very concerned,” said police spokesman Robert Armstrong, who attended the press conference.

But Armstrong said the tape does not prove that the officers used excessive force. Police reports, he said, state that the two officers were repeatedly threatened, attacked and surrounded by as many as 35 men when they came to the unruly party.

Called by Paramedics

The police report says that the officers were called to the party by paramedics, who went there earlier to treat a musician injured in a fight. Torrance Fire Department paramedics called for assistance because people at the party were “extremely intoxicated, belligerent and were interfering with their rescue attempt,” according to the report, written by Bartlett.

The videotape, played at a press conference called by attorneys for the six men, was made by a guest who was filming the festivities at a “moving out” party hosted by one of the plaintiffs, Manes said. The guest, who the men declined to identify, turned his camera on police officers when they arrived about 7 p.m., he said.

The men said the videotaping of the incident began shortly after one of them, Clifford S. Shirk Jr., 26, was attacked by Lynch and Bartlett.

As the tape begins, Shirk is being led away in handcuffs and several young men are screaming obscenities at the officers in a confusing scene at the front of the house. The tape shows most of the party-goers retreating toward the house.

Thomas Tice, 20, of Torrance, said he was trying to get another party guest to move away from police when Lynch approached him and pushed him. The tape shows the officer, identified by the men as Lynch, applying a chokehold to Tice while the officer identified as Bartlett hits him eight times on the back and knees with a night stick.

Lynch continued to apply the choke hold, and Bartlett to swing the night stick, even after Tice’s body went limp, the pictures show. Tice said he lost consciousness but was denied medical treatment.

The officer identified as Lynch then approached the cameraman and told him to leave the scene. The man’s voice is heard to respond: “Are you going to hit me, too?” Lynch replied: “No, but I will take you to jail.”

The picture then became jumbled as the man insisted, “You’re not taking my camera.” The man who made the tape left in his car and was followed by police for a time, but the officers never stopped him, according to the men.

Civil Rights Claims

Also claiming that they were assaulted are Eric Musick, 20, of Redondo Beach, Gerald Lokstadt, 24, of Downey, Darrick Tucker, 20, of Inglewood, and Steve Warner, 23, of Venice. Their lawsuit alleges that the men’s civil rights were violated and asks $500,000 in damages for each.

Manes said he will ask the district attorney’s office to file criminal charges against the officers.

After the press conference at the American Civil Liberties Union headquarters in Los Angeles, the six men described themselves as “mods,” who ride motor scooters, favor thin ties, Italian shoes, and blues and reggae music. The party was sponsored by Musick, president of the Get Smart Scooter Club, and included members of several mod-style motor scooter clubs.

One resident who is quoted in police reports said in an interview Thursday that party-goers had menaced two policeman who were trying to make an arrest.

Robert D. Vandervort, 36, who lives near the house where the party was held, said that he walked around the corner after hearing on his police scanner that paramedics needed assistance and came upon the melee.

Two policemen “were trying to subdue one of the people on the front lawn,” he said. “There were a group of kids acting like they (were) going to hit the police (who) had one of the party-goers down on the ground trying to handcuff him. Some of the other guys were trying to get their attention. They had the police surrounded. It looked like they were going to hit them.”

Neighbor Cites Taunting

He added that some party-goers taunted police, daring them to go inside the house. “Come on in there. We’ll take care of you,” they said, according to Vandervort.

Officer Bartlett’s report says that many of the party-goers had refused to disperse and then resisted arrest, yelling obscenities and, “Let’s get the (police). There are only two of them.”

The report also claims that Tice struggled with officer Lynch and tried to kick Bartlett, although that is not apparent in the videotape.

At the press conference, the four men said they did not harass paramedics and that they screamed at the police after officers beat Shirk. Each said they were struck with batons or choked by police either at the party or at the jail.

Shirk and Lokstadt claim they were punched repeatedly in the groin by Bartlett and Lynch after arriving at the jail.

Lynch is a 14-year veteran of the Torrance force, while Bartlett joined the deparment last year, Armstrong said.

Armstrong said the department needs to investigate the incident further.

“How do you take a movie and see the middle five minutes and say you understand the whole thing?” Armstrong said. “I want to see the beginning, middle and the end.”