Sperl Drops Suit Against Supervisor on Night Boy Was Shot

Former Stanton Police Officer Anthony Sperl agreed Wednesday to drop civil charges of fraud and deceit against the supervising sergeant on duty the night Sperl accidentally shot and killed a 5-year-old boy.

The dismissal of charges against former Stanton Police Sgt. Robert Ohlemann leaves only the City of Stanton as a defendant in a $25-million lawsuit Sperl filed after the March 3, 1983, shooting of Patrick Andrew Mason.

Sperl’s action is a countersuit to the $20-million wrongful-death suit the boy’s mother, Patricia Ann Ridge, filed against Stanton and Sperl.

His suit alleges that the city improperly trained and supervised him. Before Wednesday, it had also accused Ohlemann of committing fraud and deceit when he ordered Sperl to enter Ridge’s apartment to check on her welfare and her son’s. Both Sperl and Ridge maintain that the entry was illegal.

“I knew it would eventually get dismissed by a judge or Tony’s new counsel,” Ohlemann, now a captain at the Cathedral City Police Department, said. “I never felt I committed fraud or deceit, and I don’t think Tony really did either. It was a very tragic thing, and Tony was just caught up in it, I think.”

The decision to dismiss the charges was made Wednesday afternoon before Orange County Superior Court Judge Samuel B. Taylor Jr. at a settlement conference of attorneys for Sperl, the city and Ohlemann. Sperl, whose lawsuit has not gone to trial, attended the meeting but would not comment after it.

“Sgt. Ohlemann had been a very good friend of his . . . and Tony did not feel comfortable continuing an action against him,” said Daniel K. Spradlin, the attorney Sperl hired last week. He said Sperl’s attitude is, “Why make tragic circumstances worse?”

Sperl also had sued Ohlemann and former Stanton Police Chief Ronald A. Johnson, alleging that Sperl’s civil rights were violated when he was forced to sit in his blood-soaked police uniform for hours after the shooting while supervisors questioned him. A judge last November dismissed those charges for insufficient evidence.

For the same reason, a different judge last week threw out the same charges against the City of Stanton.