Former Reserve Policeman Files Countersuit

A former Costa Mesa reserve police officer accused in two lawsuits of propositioning a woman motorist he was taking to jail has sued the woman, the city and others, claiming they violated his civil rights by making an “unauthorized” tape recording of his telephone conversation.

Michael Thayer, 25, denies he offered to get a drunk-driving charge against the woman dropped in exchange for sexual favors. He is seeking unspecified general damages and $10 million in punitive damages.

Five Occasions Cited

In a cross-complaint to the lawsuit filed in federal court by the woman, Bonita Lynn Logsdon, last September, Thayer says it was Logsdon who initiated a “personal relationship” and that she made “her share” of telephone calls to him.

In her federal suit and in a state court action she filed in January, Logsdon says that Thayer “on at least five occasions” after her Dec. 11, 1983, drunk-driving arrest “repeatedly propositioned (her) to engage in intimate personal relations in return for the dismissal of criminal charges brought against (her).”

The charge was dismissed Jan. 3, 1984, after she taped, with the Orange County district attorney’s approval, one of Thayer’s telephone calls to her and took it to the city.

Logsdon’s allegations are “totally unfounded,” said Kenneth J. Kleinberg of Anaheim, Thayer’s attorney.

Logsdon’s lawyer, Richard Repici of Newport Beach, calls Thayer’s claims “totally groundless.”

D.A. Named

Thayer’s complaint also named as defendants Repici, Orange County, Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks and prosecutor’s investigator James Aumond.

Thayer resigned from the part-time police reserve job he had held for 10 months in the face of disciplinary action, Police Chief Roger Neth said after the first suit was filed. He said then that prosecutors did not have enough to bring charges against Thayer.

Costa Mesa also is defending two other lawsuits that stemmed from the actions of former officer William Lauchlan, who last July was convicted of sexually molesting one of two women motorists he had pulled over for alleged traffic law violations.