Huntington Park Department Called ‘Out of Control’ : ‘This Isn’t Anything New,’ Reiner Says

The alleged torture of a juvenile Nov. 30 is “the most blatant incident” of brutality involving officers of the Huntington Park Police Department, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner said Thursday. But Reiner added, “this isn’t anything new” in Huntington Park.

The Huntington Park Police Department has the highest frequency of brutality claims of 11 police departments in the Southeast Los Angeles County and Long Beach areas, a Times survey found in July. The frequency of claims was three times higher than the average of all the departments surveyed.

The 60-member department had 30 legal claims filed against it in 1984 and 1985 that alleged brutality. A claim is the first step in the process of filing a civil lawsuit against a governmental unit.

Since 1981, the city has had more than $900,000 in pretrial settlements and jury verdicts entered against it in eight cases involving misconduct by about 15 officers.

And the district attorney’s office is investigating at least three other allegations of brutality against Huntington Park police officers, Reiner said Thursday. A separate investigation is looking into whether Lt. David Hood slashed the tires on a vehicle belonging to a South Gate businessman on Aug. 25, and then, in an attempt to cover up the incident, gave a false statement to Downey police, district attorney’s officials said.

The high frequency of claims, according to California Chief Assistant Atty. Gen. Steve White, were a “flag, a warning” of possible problems within the department.

“It’s not unlike a house with a lot of smoke coming out of it,” White said in a July interview. “You want to go in and see if there’s a fire.”

The city of 54,000 is 84% Latino, and some critics have charged that the high incidence of alleged brutality stems from racism in the police force. Police officers, who deny that charge, say half the members of the force are Latino, but have refused to release a roster so that could be confirmed.

In announcing a department-wide investigation Thursday, Reiner said, “We’re concerned about the course of conduct that appears to be acceptable or at least has been allowed to get out of control.”

He charged that Chief Geano Contessotto is responsible and that in the past the chief and the City Council have “acted as apologists for the worst practices of that department.” Contessotto, who has headed the department since 1983, could not be reached for comment.

“That it should result in something like this is inevitable,” Reiner said.

Officer William Lustig, who was charged with felony assault Thursday, is 6 foot, 6 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds. He has been described by Mayor Herbert A. Hennes as looking “like the Hulk although he’s not painted green.” He has attracted the second highest total of brutality allegations of any officer in the department, The Times survey found.

Lustig is named in six brutality lawsuits and two brutality claims filed in 1984 and 1985. According to Reiner, the officer has “an extensive history of misconduct” and the latest charge involving torture of a juvenile indicates that the officer was “running amok.”

Lustig, who was fired Monday by Contessotto, had been dismissed by the chief in August for not reporting an on-duty accident involving a patrol car that he drove. Lustig returned to work early last month, however, after a key witness in the case became ill during a hearing.

The witness refused to continue testifying against the officer, and the charges against Lustig were dropped. He returned to work after accepting a 9% cut in pay.