Oceanside Told to Pay $186,750 to Ex-Worker for False Arrest in ’82

An Oceanside man has been awarded $186,750 by a Superior Court jury that found he was falsely arrested by police one day after he settled a racial discrimination lawsuit against the city in 1982.

But the Vista Superior Court jury rejected an allegation that the police officers who arrested Al Davis, 40, also beat up the former Oceanside building inspector.

Davis said he is pleased by the verdict, proclaiming that it validates his long-held belief that police should respect the same laws they are empowered to enforce.

“Just because you have a badge and a gun doesn’t make you above the laws and allow you to break them,” Davis said Monday. “I will not roll over, play dead and let the powers that be break the law. Everyone should be judged by the same yardstick.”

Oceanside Officials Considering an Appeal

Oceanside officials, meanwhile, said they might appeal the ruling. City Atty. Chuck Revlett said he will make a decision after reviewing the trial transcript. Dennis Daley, the private attorney who represented the city in the case, said he will recommend motions be filed asking for a new trial.

Nonetheless, the jury verdict Friday culminates the drawn-out struggle between Davis and the city.

In 1981, Davis sued the city alleging he was passed over for pay raises and promotions because he is black. Davis and city officials agreed in 1982 to settle the suit, with the city giving the building inspector $110,000 in addition to a $25,400-a-year job as special assistant to the mayor and council.

But the day after he settled, Oceanside police and North County drug enforcement agents arrested Davis on perjury charges stemming from claims that he had lied about the source of information he passed on to narcotics officers who used the tip to arrest an Oceanside man on drug charges.

Davis denied the charges, insisting that the police and district attorney set him up because they disliked the terms of his settlement with Oceanside. In March, 1983, a Vista Superior Court jury found Davis innocent of the perjury charges.

Two months later, Davis began work at his city job but began calling in sick after only three days at work. He was soon awarded permanent disability retirement by the state, for emotional problems he claims were brought on by his troubles with the city, and he later filed a worker’s compensation claim against the city, ultimately garnering an award of more than $1,100 a month.

After collecting the compensation check for two years, however, the city’s insurance company disavowed his claim and cut off the payments, and Davis is now engaged in a legal battle with the firm to get the monthly checks reinstated.

Davis Says He Spent Settlement, Lives in His Van

In the meantime, Davis has spent all the money he garnered from the $110,000 settlement of the racial discrimination lawsuit in 1982 and has been living on the streets in his van, he said. Davis said he still wears the bulletproof vest he first put on soon after his run-in with police.

“When you expect the police to protect you and then they come out and throw you in jail on something they normally don’t even arrest people on, it can cause some problems for a person,” Davis said.

His attorney, David McKenzie of Carlsbad, said he is pleased by the verdict but had wanted the jury to find the police guilty of battery during the arrest.

Davis was taken to a hospital emergency room after the arrest, but police said a bruise on the back of his head was caused when Davis fell to the ground and began throwing himself about while yelling about police brutality.

McKenzie complained, however, that the emergency room doctor overlooked leg and inner arm bruises that he said were inflicted by police.