Irvine Police Accused of Brutality : Retarded Youth’s parents File a $10-Million Claim

The parents of an 18-year-old autistic youth have filed a $10-million claim against the Irvine Police Department, alleging that their son lost a kidney as a result of brutal treatment at the hands of officers.

According to both police and witnesses, three officers chased the screaming youth through the streets of Irvine in the mistaken belief that he was riding a stolen bicycle, and then threw him to the ground in front of his house in the equally erroneous belief that he was under the influence of the drug PCP.

Kidney Removed

Guido Rodriguez Jr.--according to neighbors a shy, gentle person who liked to ride his bicycle around their neighborhood--had a kidney removed Wednesday in a 3 1/2-hour operation at Beverly Hospital in Montebello, three days after he was flipped onto his back by an Irvine police sergeant.

In his report on the incident, the sergeant acknowledges being told three times by the young man’s mother that her son is mentally retarded and could not understand the officer’s commands.

Irvine police had no comment on the complaint late Thursday, referring all inquiries to Irvine City Atty. Roger Grable, who was out of the office.

However, before the complaint was filed, a Police Department spokesman, Lt. Al Muir, said that after the incident, “The matter was reviewed by the patrol commanders and there does not appear to be any impropriety on our part.”

Muir said the officers named in the complaint--Shari Lohman, Jim Lowder and David Stoermer-- were prohibited by department policy from commenting on the matter and efforts to reach them were unsuccessful.

Beginning of Events

The incident began about 4:30 p.m. Sunday when Rodriguez, who was riding his bicycle, was spotted by Lohman, who was patrolling in a marked police car. According to her report, Lohman then saw Rodriguez “look over his shoulder, looking at the police vehicle.”

Lohman reported that the youth “immediately jumped off his bicycle and started running while pushing the bike.” She then pulled up behind Rodriguez, “who had stopped and was staring at me. I exited my vehicle and started to ask Rodriguez where he was going and he suddenly got back on the bike and pedaled to the footbridge.”

Lohman got back into her car, turned on her her flashing lights and followed, because of the youth’s “suspicious actions.”

The young man, who is slight of build, has a mental age of about 4 or 5, according to his parents. According to his teacher at the DePortola School in Mission Viejo, Raschelle Koon, he has difficulty understanding language and sometimes does not respond in a coherent fashion.

She said that in the 10 years that he has been taking special education classes in Orange County he has never exhibited aggressive behavior.

In general, neighbors said, the youth would run off or ride off if addressed, even by people he saw every day.

Fears of Kidnaping

His mother, Fara Rodriguez, said in an interview that one of her constant concerns was her son’s vulnerability to kidnaping.

“I always told him,” she said, “ ‘If somebody calls to you, don’t pay attention. Run home to me.’ ”

Lohman, according to her report, pursued the youth as he rode toward home, addressing him over the patrol car’s loudspeaker. Twice she sped ahead of Rodriguez, got out of the car and attempted to stop him, the second time chasing him on foot and grabbing his bicycle.

Rodriguez abandoned the bike and continued on foot. Lohman radioed to the dispatcher, describing the young man and asking for assistance, advising them that “he was possibly on drugs.”

Two other officers, Sgt. Lowder and Stoermer, overheard Lohman’s call to the dispatcher.

Lowder, according to his report, spotted the youth in the middle of the street about a block from home. He was standing “with his arms extended straight up over his head and yelling statements that were incoherent to me.”

Lowder said he approached the youth, who yelled “No! No!” and ran off. “Based on Officer Lohman’s statements and my observations of the subject,” Lowder reported, “I felt it was possible the subject was having some type of reaction to a drug he had ingested and was unaware of his actions. In order to prevent the subject from being injured by passing vehicles, I pursued the subject on foot in the middle of the street.”

However, according to one of three witnesses to this part of the incident, Lowder was then informed by a neighbor that Rodriguez is mentally retarded and that he could not understand what was going on.

Calls for Mother

According to witnesses, Guido ran into his family’s open garage, calling out “Mommy! Mommy!”

“Not knowing if the residence was occupied,” Lowder said in his report, “or if any weapons were inside the residence and fearing for my personal safety, I attempted to remove the subject away from the door and out into the driveway area so my follow-up officers could see me from the street.”

Fara Rodriguez opened the door and, according to Lowder, “began screaming at me that the subject was mentally retarded. Mrs. Rodriguez continued to yell at me the same statement over and over while I removed the subject from the garage.”

“Three times I told him that the youth was retarded, that he couldn’t understand,” Fara Rodriguez said in an interview. “He (the officer) didn’t listen to me at all.”

There is disagreement over exactly what happened next.

“Based on my observations of the subject during the initial contact, my foot pursuit and the contact with the subject in the garage area,” Lowder wrote in his statement, “I felt that the subject was under the influence of some type of drug, possibly PCP, and I placed the subject on the grassy area alongside the driveway, after overcoming his resistance to this maneuver, for my personal safety.”

Police Report

Lowder, who wrote that he had his baton in his hand at the time, noted in his report that Rodriguez “continually threw his arms about and uttered incoherent statements,” but that at no time did he strike or attempt to strike the officer.

According to Alfred Treser, another neighbor who witnessed this portion of the incident, “the officer forcefully pulled Guido out of the garage. . . . He had hold of him. The officer was hollering at Guido to get down.” Three times, Treser said, Lowder told the youth to get down. “Guido did not understand.”

Then, Treser said, “the officer forcefully threw him to the ground,” on his back onto an area that was barren of grass but covered with stones. With the help of a second officer, Lowder rolled Guido onto his stomach and handcuffed him.

Lowder says that he did not ignore Fara Rodriguez. In his report, he states: “I attempted to converse with Mrs. Rodriguez regarding the statements she had been yelling at me, however (I) met with negative results due to her emotional state.”

Admits Using Baton

In his report, Lowder acknowledged using his baton to restrain the young man while he was on the ground, only because it was already in his hand and he “was unable to place it back into its ring due to the subject’s combative behavior.” However, he wrote, “during the entire time I had contact with the subject I neither struck him with a fist or with my baton.”

On Monday morning, the parents learned that their son had been urinating blood and called a doctor.

The claim filed Thursday charges that officers pursued and frightened the youth without sufficient cause, and that they “arrogantly ignored” the information about the youth’s state conveyed to them by neighbors and the parents.

According to state law, the city has 45 days to reply to the claim. If it does not reply by then, the claimants have the right to file a lawsuit.