Huntington Park Man Settles False Arrest Suit for $50,000

A Huntington Park resident who charged that he was assaulted, beaten and falsely arrested and imprisoned by two Huntington Park policemen has agreed to a $50,000 settlement in the case.

Frank D. Murphy, who in 1981 sued the city of Huntington Park and Police Officer Jonathan Nerlinger and Thomas Rocke, now a former Huntington Park policeman, agreed to the settlement on Sept. 30, the day the case was scheduled to be heard in Norwalk Superior Court, said Murphy’s lawyer, John Downer.

Huntington Park City Administrator Donald Jeffers confirmed the settlement, saying that the city chose to make the payment rather than go to trial even though it did not believe the officers had acted improperly. “You never know what a jury’s going to do,” Jeffers said. The city, which represented Nerlinger and Rocke, will pay all the expenses of the suit, Jeffers said.

Murphy was arrested on charges of rape and attempted murder at a street intersection in 1981. The charges were dropped in 1982 after the woman who filed the complaint against Murphy, Shelly M. Sweet, died of a drug overdose, according to court records.

The suit asked for $1 million in general and punitive damages.