The Region - News from May 21, 1985

A federal judge in Los Angeles rejected a petition filed on behalf of a former Stanton police officer--sued for $10 million in the 1983 shooting death of a 5-year-old boy--to move the case out of Santa Ana Superior Court. U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima ruled that moving the case against retired officer Anthony Sperl, 26, to federal court because of fears of publicity would be “inappropriate.” The negligence suit was filed last year. Sperl shot and killed Patrick Ridge in the boy’s Stanton home after mistaking the child’s toy gun for a real weapon in a dimly lit room. The lawsuit is set to go to trial next Tuesday.