Irvine Officers Cleared in Brutality Probe

The Orange County district attorney’s office has concluded that three Irvine Police Department officers did not act illegally in subduing an 18-year-old autistic youth, an action that the young man’s parents say entailed excessive force and resulted in the loss of his kidney.

After receiving the district attorney’s report, the Irvine Police Department said no disciplinary action will be taken against Officers Shari Lohman, James Lowder and David Stoermer in connection with the arrest last April 21 of Guido Rodriguez Jr.

In a cover letter to the one-foot-thick report, Maurice L. Evans, deputy in charge of the special assignments section, told Irvine Police Chief Leo E. Peart that “we have found no evidence to indicate there was criminal conduct involved in the arrest of . . . Rodriguez.”

Called Reasonable

Evans said investigators found that “Sgt. Lowder had reasonable cause to believe Rodriguez had committed a public offense and Sgt. Lowder used reasonable force to overcome Rodriguez’s resistance. There is no evidence to indicate Sgt. Lowder used excessive force in overcoming Rodriguez’s resistance.”

The incident began when Lohman saw the young man, who has a mental age of 4 or 5, riding his bicycle near his home. Rodriguez reportedly looked over his shoulder at the police car in what Lohman took to be a “suspicious” manner. The officer said he believed Rodriguez might be on drugs and possibly had just stolen the bicycle.

The youth abandoned his bicycle and ran toward his home, as he had been advised to do when approached by strangers. Sgt. Lowder arrived, chasing Rodriguez down the street and into his garage.

The young man’s mother emerged from her house to scream at Lowder that her son was mentally retarded and couldn’t understand. But Lowder said he felt the youth was under the influence of a drug, possibly PCP, and that he overcame his “resistance” to place him down on a grassy area alongside the driveway.

Youth Not Charged

No charges were ever filed against the youth and he was released at the scene. Subsequently, one of the young man’s kidneys had to be removed.

After retaining an independent urologist and pathologist to examine the removed kidney and reviewing medical reports, investigators described the removed left kidney as “hydronephrotic,” or enlarged. They said this was a lifelong condition resulting from a birth defect.

“Medical personnel examining Rodriguez could find no evidence of bruising in the part of the body associated with the left kidney,” the report said. “Our medical expert felt that the kidney was functional prior to surgery, but that the removal of the kidney was inevitable. There is no evidence to indicate that the struggle with Sgt. Lowder aggravated the hydronephrotic condition of the kidney.”

On May 21, the Rodriguez family filed a civil suit against Irvine and the officers, after earlier submitting a $10-million claim that the city rejected.

Family Attorney

A statement released by R. Q. Shupe, a family attorney, charged that “the investigation completely ignores any effects that completely reckless and outrageous acts of Officers Lowder, Lohman and Stoermer have had upon the Rodriguez family. . . . The conclusions of the district attorney’s investigation do not coincide with our own investigation.”

The Spanish-speaking youth had no history of violent or extensive antisocial behavior, his teachers said.

Lt. Al Muir, a spokesman for the Irvine Police Department and commander of its investigative division, said Thursday: “I’ve had the opportunity to read the entire report, and in terms of our policies and departmental procedures, there was no violation of any sort on the part of the officers. There will be no disciplining of the officers.”