Man Seeking Reward Is Barred From Suing

An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that a young man who claims his tip led to the arrest and conviction of William Bonin, the so-called Freeway Killer, cannot sue the City of Huntington Beach, Lucky Supermarkets and the Lucky employees union for refusing to pay him rewards posted at the time.

Judge Tully H. Seymour granted what is called a summary judgment, basically ruling that David A. McVicker, 26, has no case.

Mark Licker, McVicker’s attorney, said: “The court was swayed by a deposition from a Los Angeles Police Department detective who said that my client gave no information that had any effect on the arrest and conviction of William Bonin. We’re of the opinion that it (McVicker’s tip) led in whole or in part to the arrest and conviction.”

In late May, 1980, McVicker went to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and told investigators how he had been abducted and raped by Bonin nearly five years earlier. Bonin had been convicted of that assault and had spent two years in prison.

Bonin later was arrested in Hollywood while he was engaged in homosexual acts with a 17-year-old youth in the back of his van, police said.

The supermarket chain and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 32 each offered rewards of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer of Darin Lee Kendrick, 19, of Cypress, a union member who worked at a Lucky store in Stanton. In addition, a Huntington Beach citizens group offered a $2,000 reward.

Licker said he was “very disappointed” by Seymour’s decision. “My client has never been paid any reward money by anyone,” he said. McVicker now “has to decide if he wants to appeal this decision. . . . He’s not feeling too hot. There’s not much for him to say.”