Parents Sue Ventura Sheriff Over Chokehold on Youth

Even friends of Stacey Franks acknowledge that he was abusive with county rescuers who tried to help him after a bicycle accident on a Camarillo golf course last summer. But the incident has prompted dispute over whether a Ventura County sheriff’s deputy responded appropriately to the youth’s behavior.

Stacey’s parents have filed suit against the county, alleging that the boy, now 17, suffered brain damage when Deputy Mario Munoz subdued him with a chokehold. They say their son suffers from loss of memory, faulty concentration and a lack of interest in racing bicycles, his former passion.

“I want them to just remember in the future that they’re dealing with human beings,” the boy’s mother, Marina Franks, said of sheriff’s officials.

‘No Injuries From Hold’

But a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Friday that the deputy acted within department guidelines, which say that chokeholds may be used when necessary to subdue an unruly person.

“There is no reason to believe there were any injuries sustained as a result of the hold that was used,” Assistant Sheriff Larry Kalsbeek said.

The incident that led to the lawsuit occurred in August at Las Posas Country Club. Stacey, 16 at the time, and four friends illegally entered the grounds of the private golf course to bicycle on the course’s hilly terrain, which the teen-agers had done dozens of times. Stacey was on probation at the time for stealing a bicycle, his mother said.

Stacey attempted to jump his bicycle off the top of a particularly steep hill, a stunt he said he had accomplished before. He didn’t make it this time, however; he crashed to the bottom, breaking his collarbone and possibly striking his head against a metal drainage pipe.

A golfer called for help, and Ventura County firefighters arrived soon afterward. The firefighters and Stacey’s friends said that Stacey was uncooperative. At one point, he punched a firefighter who attempted to administer first aid, according to friend Jason Olson, 16.

Firefighter Chris Lundsgaard said Friday that Stacey’s behavior “was not rational,” but, he said, “When people sustain injuries to the head that are not obvious on the outside, it messes things up on the inside and can cause irrational behavior.”

Deputy Suspected Drug Use

Lundsgaard said that the firefighters backed away from Stacey, who was on the ground, and waited for an ambulance.

After Munoz observed Stacey’s behavior, he concluded that the boy might be under the influence of a drug, possibly PCP, according to the report he wrote on the incident.

Munoz wrote in his report that he asked Stacey to cooperate with the firefighters, but that the youth continued to yell and became “very hostile.” When Munoz attempted to stop Stacey from getting up, the boy grabbed at the deputy’s gun belt, the report said.

The two struggled, and Munoz applied a carotid-type restraint hold on Stacey, the report said. Munoz and the firefighters subdued the boy, strapped him onto a backboard and took him by ambulance to nearby Pleasant Valley Hospital.

Lundsgaard and Olson agree with the parents’ contention that the deputy’s use of a chokehold was unjustified.

Lundsgaard said that Stacey, while lying on the ground, appeared to grow more uncooperative as Munoz “drilled” him with questions that the deputy should not have asked a person with possible head injuries.

“I think the police department was a little bit excessive in their treatment of this individual,” the fireman said.

Stacey’s parents allege that their son became unconscious at least twice at the golf course and again at the hospital.

But Kalsbeek said Stacey never lost consciousness. And county investigators concluded that Stacey’s injuries were caused by his bicycle accident and not the chokehold, according to their reports.

Stacey was not able to recognize relatives during several days in the intensive care ward, and was not able to speak for eight days, his father said.

“The biggest damage is on the emotional side,” Dennis Franks said. “I’ve noticed sometimes that he acts like a 3-year-old.”

The parents, who own an appliance store in Oxnard, filed a $6.5-million claim against the county in November, but it was rejected, as virtually all claims are.

The parents did not ask for specific damages in their lawsuit, filed last week, but said they have had to pay $20,000 in medical costs. The suit names the county, Munoz and the country club as defendants.

Stacey, who was an avid bicycle racer before the accident and had collected two dozen trophies in the sport, said he cannot remember anything about the day of the accident.