2 Sisters Weep at Verdict : Flower Sellers Convicted in Row With Police

A Van Nuys Municipal Court jury Friday convicted two Woodland Hills sisters of resisting arrest after a California State Police officer ordered them to stop selling flowers on a street corner.

Karla Kaufman, 20, was found guilty of five misdemeanor charges against her, including battery on a peace officer and street vending without a permit. The battery count arose from an encounter between the five-foot-tall woman and the six-foot-tall trooper that left her nose broken and his body scratched and bruised, according to testimony in the three-day trial.

Kaufman’s 28-year-old sister, Erika, was acquitted of the battery charge but convicted of four other counts: unauthorized vending, resisting arrest, resisting an executive officer and refusing to leave property.

Each sister could receive more than a year in County Jail when sentenced June 16 by Judge Terry Lee Smerling.

The defendants burst into tears as the verdicts were read. Jurors left the courtroom without talking to attorneys in the case.

The Kaufmans testified that they had never heard of the State Police and feared that the officer was an impostor. The California State Police is a group of 340 sworn officers assigned to protect state property.

The sisters said they were about to leave the intersection of Valley Circle Boulevard and the off-ramp of the Ventura Freeway when the officer grabbed Karla’s arm and wrestled her to the ground.

Erika said she tried to intercede but was restrained by a visiting, off-duty Cook County sheriff’s deputy who was driving past the location.

State Police Officer Martin J. Olson testified that the girls belligerently refused to leave and began swearing at him. When he attempted to arrest Karla, he said, she attacked him.

Olson was dispatched to the scene after a woman who lives in a house owned by Caltrans alongside the freeway complained that flower peddlers were trespassing on state property and causing traffic congestion.