Woman, Son Awarded $90,000 in Police Raid

An Anaheim woman and her son were awarded $90,000 Wednesday by a Los Angeles federal court jury which found that their civil rights were violated by three police officers who invaded their home looking for a kidnaping victim.

Winifred Morris, 73, and her son, John, were awarded the money after a two-day trial in which they claimed the three Anaheim officers had no right to storm their home on Aug. 4, 1981, on a tip that the Morrises were holding a kidnaping victim.

Claimed No Knowledge

They claimed that they had no knowledge of the police case.

The Morrises’ attorney, Stephen Yagman of Los Angeles, said the police officers had terrorized Morris and her son during the raid.

“They (the officers) claimed they were looking for a kidnap victim,” Yagman said. “It was a lie; it wasn’t true at all.”

The mother and son claimed that Sgt. Harold Parkison and Officers Richard Harrington and Walter Casey burst into their home early in the morning with loaded shotguns and “roused” them out of bed looking for the victim. The officers found no one else in the house and did not arrest the Morrises.

The three police officers still work for the Anaheim Police Department, a city official said.

Yagman said the Morrises’ lawsuit had asked for $40,000.

Although the jury awarded them $90,000, U.S. District Judge Laughlin Waters refused to admit testimony that the Anaheim Police Department had conducted this type of raid “regularly,” Yagman said. The attorney said he was appealing that ruling.

Yagman also said the police department is responsible for paying $63,500 of the damages, the amount the department is insured for, and the police officers must pay the other $26,500.

Yagman said he would file a motion with Waters next Monday to direct the Anaheim Police Department to pay him $45,000 in legal fees on top of the $90,000.

The three police officers and their attorney, Jeffrey Nelson of Los Angeles, were unavailable for comment.