Family Attorneys React Sharply : D.A. Clears Irvine Police in Autistic Youth Incident

An investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s office has concluded that three Irvine police 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 report, the Irvine Police Department said that no disciplinary action will be taken against Officers Shari Lohman, James Lowder and David Stoermer in connection with the April 21 arrest of Guido Rodriguez Jr.

Attorneys for the Rodriguez family, who have sued the city over the incident, sharply disputed the district attorney’s conclusions.

In a two-page cover letter to the two-volume, one-foot-thick report, addressed to Irvine Police Chief Leo E. Peart, Maurice L. Evans, deputy in charge of the district attorney’s special assignments section, summarized his findings, saying that “we have found no evidence to indicate there was criminal conduct involved in the arrest of . . . Rodriguez.”

Relying on information available to the officers at the scene, the letter continued, investigators found that “Sergeant Lowder had reasonable cause to believe Rodriguez had committed a public offense and Sergeant Lowder used reasonable force to overcome Rodriguez’s resistance. There is no evidence to indicate Sergeant Lowder used excessive force.”

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 Sergeant Lowder aggravated the hydronephrotic condition of the kidney.”

Evans could not be reached for comment Thursday.

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.”

Press Conference Tuesday

Chief Peart, who has yet to be briefed on the investigation, has scheduled a press conference for Tuesday.

Guido Rodriguez Sr., the youth’s father, said that he had been advised by his attorneys not to comment on the report, because “this is a big case, and I don’t want to jeopardize it.” However, he added, “I’m not surprised at what they’ve (the district attorney’s office) done.”

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

A statement released by R.Q. Shupe, one of the family’s attorneys, 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.”

Question of Blood

Referring to the findings of an independent medical expert, Shupe asked, “Why there was blood found in Guido’s urine for the first time within hours of the police officer’s attack?

“Isn’t it amazing,” he added, “that one law enforcement agency has once again come to the rescue of a fellow law enforcement agency in its time of need?”

In an interview, Richard Peterson, another Rodriguez attorney, said that he had not expected that the district attorney’s office “would go so far as to advocate the city’s position” in its findings. “The whole thing just infuriates me. It opens up the wound that the Rodriguezes have just begun to heal from and pours salt in it,” he said.

According to Peterson, the family cooperated with the investigation by supplying releases for their son’s physicians and teachers to speak with investigators.

Teachers’ Comments

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

Michael Capizzi, an assistant district attorney, said that of 81 civilian witnesses interviewed in connection with the investigation, “It’s my understanding that there is not anyone who indicated there was excessive force. It’s not a situation you or I can judge sitting at our desks. It’s a fast-moving situation. There was the language problem as well.”

Peterson, however, charged that only 10 of the 81 saw anything related to the incident on the lawn of the Rodriguez home, and that they supported the family’s version.

Riding His Bicycle

The incident began on a quiet Sunday afternoon as Guido Jr., who has a mental age of 4 or 5 years, was riding his bicycle around the residential neighborhood near his home.

He was noticed by Officer Lohman, who was patrolling the area in her squad car, who saw him “look over his shoulder, looking at the police vehicle,” according to her report. Because of his “suspicious actions,” she wrote, Lohman gave chase, later advising other officers by radio that “he was possibly on drugs. Based on Rodriguez’s actions, I felt he possibly had just stolen the bicycle.”

The youth abandoned his bicycle and fled on foot toward his home, as he had been advised to do by his parents in the event he was approached by strangers. He was chased down the street and into his garage by Sgt. Lowder, who wrote in his report: “Based on Officer Lohman’s statements and my observations of the subject . . . I felt it was possible the subject was having some type of reaction to a drug he had ingested and was unaware of his actions.”

‘I Removed the Subject’

At this point, according to Lowder, Guido’s mother, Fara, opened the door from the house to the garage and “began screaming at me that the boy was mentally retarded, that he couldn’t understand. Mrs. Rodriguez continued to yell at me the same statement over and over while I removed the subject from the garage.”

“Three times I told him that the boy was retarded, that he couldn’t understand,” Fara Rodriguez said in an interview.

“Based on my observations of the subject during the initial contact, my foot pursuit and the contact with subject in the garage area,” Lowder wrote, “I felt that the subject was under the influence of some type of drug, possibly PCP, and I placed the subject on the grassy area alongside the driveway, after overcoming his resistance to this maneuver, for my personal safety.”

Charges Never Filed

Charges were never filed against Rodriguez and he was released at the scene. The next morning, the youth complained to his parents of blood in his urine. According to Dr. J. E. Altamirano, the Rodriguez family physician, Guido’s kidney had to be removed because the organ had hemorrhaged as a result of a “recent trauma.”

Today, according to Guido Rodriguez Sr., the youth is back in the special school he attended before and is “basically doing very well.” However, he is much more introverted than he was before the incident. “He’s very nervous,” the father said, and he recounts the incident to his parents whenever he sees a police car. “He hasn’t touched his bike,” his father said, adding, “he won’t go out the door without us.”

The family has sold its Irvine home, which Rodriguez says is “absolutely” the result of the incident with the police, and they intend to leave the city.

As to whether Irvine officers will undergo any special handicapped awareness training as a result of the Rodriguez case, Irvine Police Lt. Muir said that at his press conference Peart will be “commenting on whether or not there was in any fashion something we could have done to be more aware of this situation,” but that implementing such training “should not imply that officers lacked skills.”