Pomona Mayor Sued for Shotgun Incident

A Cal Poly Pomona student has filed suit against Mayor Donna Smith, claiming that he suffered emotional distress as the result of an encounter last August in which Smith brandished a shotgun at him after he parked his car in front of her house.

In the suit, filed last week in Pomona Superior Court, Eric Johnson, 18, accuses Smith of assault, false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress and seeks unspecified damages.

The suit stems from an Aug. 15 incident in which Smith walked out of her house with a shotgun and confronted Johnson--who had parked his car on the street in front of her house--and accused him of buying or selling drugs. Johnson denied being involved in drug dealing but agreed to move his car after a brief argument with Smith.

A few days after the incident, Johnson filed a criminal complaint against Smith, but the district attorney’s office declined to bring charges against the mayor, citing insufficient evidence.

Barbara Lee Norman, Johnson’s attorney, said he filed the civil suit because Smith did not have to face charges and because he thought the criminal justice system did not adequately protect his rights. Norman also suggested that racism may have played a part in the district attorney’s decision not to prosecute Smith. Johnson is black; Smith is white.

“Maybe the criminal system didn’t work for him as it would have if the situation had been reversed,” Norman said. “If a black homeowner had come after a white youth, (the homeowner) would have to take the consequences.”

Smith said Tuesday morning that she had not been served with the lawsuit and would not comment until she had read the case. In earlier interviews, Smith has admitted carrying an unloaded shotgun when she told Johnson to park elsewhere.

The suit contends that as Johnson got out of his car to catch up with a friend he had dropped off at a house up the street, he was confronted at gunpoint by Smith, who stood in the driveway, shouting obscenities at the teen-ager.

“Basically he feels that it was a traumatic and scary thing for him,” said Norman. “He also feels that it was a racially discriminatory thing for her to do.”

Smith, who is a member of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, has said her actions were not racially motivated and has denied using foul language during her altercation with Johnson.

Smith said she walked outside with the gun because her life had been threatened by drug dealers who ply their trade in her neighborhood.

At an Oct. 12 City Council meeting, Smith was sharply criticized for her conduct by Harold Webb, president of the Pomona Valley chapter of the NAACP. At Webb’s insistence, Smith publicly apologized to Johnson for the incident. However, Norman said her client did not accept Smith’s apology.

“He just didn’t feel it was from the heart,” Norman said.

Johnson has not placed a dollar amount on the damages that would compensate him adequately for the stress he incurred as a result of the incident, Norman said.

“It’s whatever will make him whole,” Norman said. “I certainly don’t believe that he’s doing it for the money.”

Norman said she would like Smith and Johnson to take part in a settlement conference at which they could discuss “the range from shaking a hand to writing a check.”

Although the incident has not caused Johnson to undergo extensive medical care or miss time from work, Norman said her client has suffered a lifelong trauma.

“It’s a pretty scary thing to feel you’re going to be shot,” Norman said. “. . .He’ll always have the thought of that every time he pulls up to the curb in a neighborhood where white people might live.”