Police Brutality Orange County

Steve Nolan was considered a good cop. He graduated No. 1 in his class at the Sheriff's Academy and received two distinguished service medals during his first eight years with the Anaheim Police Department. But it has been more than two years since Nolan wore a badge.

Federal authorities announced Friday that they will begin a criminal probe into an alleged jailhouse beating by Orange County sheriff's deputies in 1999, an incident prosecutors said was marred by a "fatally flawed" sheriff's investigation. The new inquiry is the third allegation of brutality at the Orange County Jail to come under federal scrutiny since late February, and comes amid a flurry of inmates' claims of mistreatment by guards.

The family of a 40-year-old truck driver, shot to death Jan. 23 after police responded to a call about a domestic disturbance at his apartment, filed a $20-million civil rights suit Friday against city officials, charging that they "fostered a custom of police brutality." The suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, said ex-Marine Sylvan Randall Byrd was fatally wounded after he came to his front door with a handgun "behind his back."

A little-publicized beating case that led to the first criminal convictions in memory for brutality at the Orange County Jail threatens to come back to haunt the county--and possibly taxpayers as well. The case involves an inmate who was repeatedly kicked and punched by jail officials. Unlike the flurry of beating allegations to hit the Sheriff's Department in recent years, investigators quickly determined Leonard Mendez's allegations had merit.

Saying the city's Police Department is in danger of becoming "Fuhrmanized," the chairman of Los Amigos of Orange County on Tuesday demanded that the City Council release documents that he said prove two incidents of police brutality against Latino youths. The first incident involved the arrest of a 16-year-old in 1991 on suspicion of burglary, and the second the arrest of another teen-ager in 1992 during a police crackdown on gangs in the Jeffrey-Lynne neighborhood.

A police officer, fired after he was videotaped kicking a homeless man during an arrest outside of a wild party, had a quick temper and jumped into things without stopping to think, Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. said Wednesday. In testimony before the city's Personnel Board, Purcell said the former officer's last performance review listed his temper as a problem. Purcell said he took "particular interest" in that evaluation when deciding to fire Keith R.

A federal jury has exonerated two Huntington Beach police officers accused of using excessive force against a man whose party was being broken up. The accusations against Officers John Cottriel and Charles Conlosh were dismissed late Friday after less than two hours of deliberation in the two-week civil trial. "I feel fantastic," said Conlosh, who is also a Fountain Valley city councilman. "I'm glad it's over and looking forward to getting on with my life."

A federal jury in Santa Ana has exonerated two Huntington Beach police officers accused of causing a near-riot in 1990 by using excessive force against a man whose party they were breaking up. The accusations against officers John Cottriel and Charles Conlosh were dismissed late Friday after less than two hours of deliberation in the two-week civil trial. "I feel fantastic," Conlosh, who is also a Fountain Valley city councilman, said of the verdict.

An Orange County jury deliberated just 45 minutes Thursday before dismissing an excessive force lawsuit by a Long Beach man who claimed Huntington Beach police assaulted him during an arrest five years ago. "Justice was served and the promptness of the jury's verdict demonstrates that," said Mark Rutter, a Long Beach lawyer who represented the city. Walter Grantham, a 43-year-old screen fabricator, was seeking $550,000 damage from the city and Officer Richard McMillan, an eight-year veteran.

Two police officers who fatally shot a 20-year-old Garden Grove man who pointed a toy gun at them should be held responsible for the death because they shot to kill rather than to maim or to disarm the man, an Orange County Superior Court jury was told Tuesday. Furthermore, jurors should find that officers Mark Van Holt and Roger Keyesover overstepped their authority when they shot at Dennis Paul Gonzales an "unnecessary" 15 times on the night of Jan. 29, 1989, said attorney Kurt Kupferman.

A little-publicized beating case that led to the first criminal convictions in memory for brutality at the Orange County jail threatens to come back to haunt the county--and possibly taxpayers as well. The case involves an inmate who was repeatedly kicked and punched by jail officials. Unlike the flurry of beating allegations to hit the Orange County Sheriff's Department in recent years, investigators quickly determined that Leonard Mendez's allegations had merit.

The Orange County Grand Jury is investigating whether sheriff's deputies used excessive force during an encounter with an inmate in the Men's Central Jail late last year, according to sources familiar with the probe. Prosecutors decided to present the case to the panel after reviewing an extensive criminal investigation carried out by sheriff's detectives, the sources said.

Orange County sheriff's officials said Friday that they will investigate claims that a small cadre of jail deputies beat inmates and ordered a prisoner allegedly infected with AIDS and hepatitis to splatter other inmates with human waste. The claims, filed this week in a federal civil rights lawsuit, include allegations that one inmate was beaten for telling a public defender's investigator that deputies assaulted a man charged with killing two toddlers at a Costa Mesa preschool last May.

Orange County sheriff's officials said Friday that they will investigate claims that a small cadre of jail deputies beat inmates and used some prisoners to intimidate others. A lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles includes allegations that, at the Central Men's Jail in Santa Ana, deputies assaulted one inmate for speaking to a public defender's investigator about the alleged beating of a man charged with killing two toddlers at a Costa Mesa preschool last year.

Sheriff's Department officials announced Thursday that they will launch a detailed inquiry into a November melee at the Orange County Jail that prompted a $5-million brutality claim brought by prisoners. The disturbance, which involved 48 inmates and 30 deputies, is considered one of the most serious incidents at the jail in several years and comes at a time of unprecedented overcrowding.

A federal jury has exonerated two Huntington Beach police officers accused of using excessive force against a man whose party was being broken up. The accusations against Officers John Cottriel and Charles Conlosh were dismissed late Friday after less than two hours of deliberation in the two-week civil trial. "I feel fantastic," said Conlosh, who is also a Fountain Valley city councilman. "I'm glad it's over and looking forward to getting on with my life."

The City Council announced a $125,000 lawsuit settlement this week with a woman who alleged a police officer broke her jaw and loosened five teeth on July 4, 1994. Allison Jill Gonsowski was a 17-year-old Edison High School student when, she said, an officer hit her in the face with a baton during an unprovoked attack. The holiday was one of the most raucous in a history of troubled Fourths for the city.

Two men filed a federal lawsuit against Huntington Beach and several of its police officers Monday, claiming that they were beaten by the officers and attacked by a police dog. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, is the latest in a series of alleged use-of-excessive-force complaints against the city's police officers. James Christopher Dahl, 30, and Ronald L.

A federal jury in Santa Ana has exonerated two Huntington Beach police officers accused of causing a near-riot in 1990 by using excessive force against a man whose party they were breaking up. The accusations against officers John Cottriel and Charles Conlosh were dismissed late Friday after less than two hours of deliberation in the two-week civil trial. "I feel fantastic," Conlosh, who is also a Fountain Valley city councilman, said of the verdict.

A federal jury in Los Angeles on Friday rejected a couple's claim that four Huntington Beach police officers used excessive force, stole an $80,000 diamond and improperly searched the woman during a 1993 car stop.