Maywood Sergeant Allegedly Hit Prisoner : Officer Demoted in Mistreatment Case

A police sergeant has been demoted for allegedly striking and dumping cold water on an Orange County man who had been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, the police chief said last week.

The demotion occurred after a Police Department internal investigation found that David R. Kudick had been mistreated by then-Sgt. John Hoglund after asking the officer several questions about an alcohol breath test.

Kudick, 35, of Laguna Hills, filed a $100,000 police brutality claim against the city last month, alleging that he suffered pain, injury and mental anguish as a result of his Jan. 23 arrest.

Kudick was brought to the Maywood Police station about 2 a.m. on Jan. 23, police reports said. While officers were completing paper work for the breath test, Kudick was “verbally insulting . . . and then Hoglund hit him (in the face),” said Maywood Police Chief Theodore R. Heidke.

Then, after a struggle to lock Kudick in a cell, Hoglund “threw a bucket of water on him,” Heidke said.

Kudick, who is awaiting trial on the drunk driving charge, also claims he was kicked by Hoglund. But Heidke said the department’s investigation found no evidence to support that charge. Officer Steve Nagy, who Kudick also claims witnessed and participated in the incident, has been exonerated by the department’s investigation, Heidke said.

After the internal investigation concluded that Hoglund was at fault, the City Council voted unanimously to follow the chief’s recommendation to demote the sergeant. The action prevents Hoglund from ever being promoted by the Maywood department and reduces his salary by $250 a month to $2,846.

Heidke said that firing Hoglund over the incident would have been too severe.

“I’m not in any way trying to downplay Kudick’s complaint,” the police chief said. “Had there been any actual injury to Kudick, the action would have been harsher.”

If another brutality complaint is filed against Hoglund, the chief said the officer will be fired. An internal investigation cleared Hoglund of the only other brutality claim ever brought against him, the chief said. He added that the Hoglund claims are the only complaints that have been filed against the 24-officer department over the past year.

Since 1985, seven police brutality claims have been filed against the city, but all have been settled or dismissed except for Kudick’s, City Administrator Leonard Locher said.

Maywood Mayor William Hamilton said he agreed with the police chief’s decision not to fire Hoglund.

“That was a strong enough action for this particular moment. . . . I don’t think we need to flog a dead horse,” Hamilton said. “But the least little infraction from here on out would be cause for dismissal.”

Hamilton said he did not think the department’s credibility has been damaged by the reported abuse.

Kudick, whose $100,000 claim will be considered by the City Council on Tuesday, said he may file a civil suit regardless of any settlement the city might offer.

“I just don’t feel this is right,” Kudick said of the abuse. “I feel there are a lot of people out there who are poor or illiterate and don’t even know how to make a complaint like this. . . . I want to make the Police Department think about their actions.”

Hoglund, 42, declined to be interviewed by The Times. He has been a Maywood police officer since January, 1976, and was halfway through the one-year probationary period for sergeants when demoted.

The other brutality claim against Hoglund was filed in late January, when Arturo Guerrero DeLeon, 31, of Monterey Park sought $6,000 from the city. After being arrested Nov. 30 and accused of drunk driving, DeLeon claimed that Hoglund hit and kicked him.

The chief said an internal investigation found that Hoglund was justified in hitting DeLeon in the face because he allegedly kicked the officer in the groin first. Hoglund hit DeLeon hard enough to cut his face and paramedics were called to treat him. DeLeon, who claims the incident left him with severe lacerations and permanent scarring, was released the morning after his arrest.

The district attorney’s office is prosecuting DeLeon for assaulting a police officer, Heidke said.

Neither DeLeon nor his attorney could be reached for comment.

The City Council denied DeLeon’s claim in February and referred it to the city’s insurance adjuster, Locher said. There has been no settlement.