Testimony in Suit Against City : Rape by Officer Blamed for Emotional, Health Woes

A woman who was raped by an on-duty Los Angeles police officer in her Northridge home five years ago has testified in a trial against the city that, because of the assault, she acquired a drinking problem, gained 75 pounds, lost her sex drive and has become a recluse.

The woman, a 31-year-old mother of two, is suing the City of Los Angeles and former police Sgt. Leigh B. Schroyer, who was convicted in the 1981 rape. The jury trial began last week before Superior Court Judge Carlos E. Velarde.

Assistant City Atty. Flora Trostler’s two days of cross-examination, which ended Monday, appeared aimed at suggesting that the woman has exaggerated the physical and emotional injuries caused by the 1981 attack. Trostler elicited an acknowledgment that the woman had also been raped in 1975.

Afraid of Strangers

The woman testified that, shortly after the assault, she quit her job and was unemployed for nearly a year because she was afraid of strangers. “I just wanted to stay at home and lock the doors,” she said.

Under cross-examination, she acknowledged that, even after the attack, she occasionally visited friends, went shopping and visited bars. She met a friend at a bar and went for a drive with two men she had met there a few weeks after she was raped, she said.

Trostler established that, on the night of the crime, the woman drank nine cocktails and two beers, then drove a car.

In an interview, Trostler said the city’s position is that it is not liable for any damages to the woman, and is not required to defend Schroyer in the civil action because Schroyer “acted outside of the scope of his employment.” The woman’s lawsuit did not ask for a specific damage award. “That’s going to be up to the jury,” her attorney, Vann Slatter, said.

Officer Convicted

Schroyer, a 15-year veteran who resigned after the incident, was convicted in June, 1982. He served 18 months of a three-year prison sentence. Trostler said he has moved out of the state and has decided not to defend himself in the suit.

The woman told the jury she was stopped by Schroyer on suspicion of drunk driving after she had been drinking with friends. She failed a sobriety test, and he offered to take her home in his patrol car, she said.

Once inside, she said, Schroyer demanded “a payment,” threw her onto her couch and raped her.

After that she began having nightmares and drinking heavily to sleep, and she went from about 125 pounds to her weight now of 198, she testified.

“I tend to eat a lot when I’m nervous . . . and I attribute that to what had happened to me,” the woman said.

Boyfriend ‘Supportive’

The woman said that for three or four months after the assault she could not have sexual relations with her live-in boyfriend. “He was very supportive, but I just couldn’t have him hold me or touch me,” she said.

Finally, she said, she consented to have sex about once a month. “Even though I didn’t care about it and it didn’t feel good for me anymore, I realized that I needed to do it for him,” she said.

Slatter said Trostler’s cross-examination was an attempt at “character assassination.”

The trial is scheduled to continue today.