Anaheim Police Cleared of 49er Fans’ Charges

A federal jury exonerated six Anaheim police officers of brutality allegations Wednesday, finding that they had acted properly in detaining four San Francisco 49ers’ fans during that team’s National Football League game against the Los Angeles Rams at Anaheim Stadium five years ago.

After less than a day of deliberation, jurors voted unanimously to clear the officers of wrongdoing in arrests that the officers said had averted a riot in the stands.

Robert and Claudia Kiser and Marlene and Peter Eberle alleged in the 10-day trial that they were subjected to catcalls and pelted with debris as they cheered the 49ers in the middle of a section of Rams season ticket-holders.

They alleged in the lawsuit, tried before U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler, that police should have protected them, not arrested them and roughed them up.

The six officers exonerated are Paul Shepard, Ty C. Hagenson, David Monsoor, Michael Patterson, Gordon McMillan and Sgt. John Haradon.

Officers testified that they had been summoned by an usher who was concerned that a fight might break out during the second quarter of the game on Oct. 23, 1983. Officers and other fans testified that the Eberles and the Kisers were loud and obnoxious, at times using obscenities and making obscene gestures toward Rams fans.

Officers escorted the two couples from the stands to a concourse area for interrogation, where Marlene Eberle’s actions became the focus of the lawsuit.

She testified that she followed her husband as police led him from the stadium seats. When she demanded to know why he was being detained, she testified that Shepard shoved her without warning. She said he then shoved her again, forcing her to spill a beer she was holding.

Shepard testified that she had been loud and abusive and tried to push past him toward her husband. In the process, he said, she threw a cup of beer on him.

The officers testified that their first priority was to get the couples out of the potentially explosive situation in the stands. They said they had no intention of making arrests until the Eberles’ behavior forced them to do so.