Parents of Autistic Man File Suit Over His Arrest

The parents of an 18-year-old autistic man filed a $10-million lawsuit Tuesday against the City of Irvine and three police officers, charging them with injuring their son during an incident in which the officers mistakenly suspected their son of having stolen the bicycle he was riding around his neighborhood.

The suit, filed in Superior Court by Guido Rodriguez Sr. and his wife Fara, accused the city, Police Sgt. James Lowder and Officers Shari Lohman and David Stoermer of causing serious bodily injury to Guido Rodriguez Jr.

The autistic man was chased by the three officers on April 21. According to witnesses, the officers failed to heed warnings that the man was mentally retarded and threw him to the ground after he reached his home.

Three days later, a kidney that had hemorrhaged was removed in surgery on young Rodriguez at Beverly Hospital in Montebello.

Richard Peterson, the attorney representing the Rodriguez family, said he thought he had a clear-cut case against the City of Irvine and the police officers, who in their report also said they suspected Rodriguez was under the influence of PCP at the time of the incident.

“I believe that in terms of liability, we have a very strong case against the officers, particularly against Officer Lowder,” Peterson said.

Lowder, according to witnesses and his own report, threw Rodriguezto the ground although the officer was told by shouting neighbors that he was mentally retarded.

“No one deserves to be thrown to the ground like that,” the attorney said.

Irvine City Manager William Woollett learned about the lawsuit from a reporter. He said he had no comment on the legal action.

Four days after the incident, Peterson filed a $10-million claim against the City of Irvine, but the claim was rejected by the City Council on May 14.

The Orange County district attorney, at the request of the City of Irvine, is conducting an independent investigation of the incident. Peterson said he felt the city’s own investigation has been “virtually nonexistent” as far as gathering information on its own. Peterson said he was willing to discuss the legal action with city officials but that officials had “not shown any willingness to do that.”

“It’s a question of dollars,” the attorney said. “We are willing to sit down and talk. If they won’t do that, then we’ll have a jury decide.”