Handcuffed Woman Who Was Maced Wins $5,001

A Laguna Beach police officer used excessive force when he sprayed a tear-gas substance known as Mace on a woman while trying to sort out a marital dispute and must pay her $5,001, a federal jury decided this week.

After the jurors condemned his action--and department policy on the use of Mace--Officer Ronald Sapp said that he planned to quit police work.

The victim, Laurel Kinder, 31, of Mission Viejo, was in the back seat of Sapp’s patrol car with her hands handcuffed behind her when Sapp sprayed her with Mace. He testified that she was trying to kick out a car window and that he did it for her own protection.

Kinder had been arrested after she tried to get her son from the home of her husband’s brother in Laguna Beach. (Kinder and her husband later divorced; he received custody of a son, while she was awarded custody of a daughter.)

“Jurors found unanimously that even if everything (Sapp) said was true, he still used excessive force,” said Jerry L. Steering, Kinder’s lawyer.

Jurors found that Kinder’s civil rights had been violated. Department policy allows use of Mace in certain limited situations, such as when a suspect threatens to injure himself or someone else or takes a combative stance and clearly signals an intent to resist arrest.

“The officer conducted himself well within the confines of the policy,” said A.J. Pyka, a lawyer for the department. “They (jurors) didn’t like that policy.”

Jurors awarded Kinder $5,000 in punitive damages and $1 in real damages.

Department officials could not be reached for comment. Pyka said an appeal will be considered.

Beverly Bates, a juror in the case from Crestline, said she was outraged at Sapp’s actions. “They already had her handcuffed in the car, and they Maced her. They Maced her! She wasn’t hurting anything. She was not given a chance to even tell her story,” Bates said.

Sapp, 37, a 10-year veteran of the department, said he has had enough. The police officer lives in Corona with his wife and child.

“I don’t need a system that allows this sort of thing to happen,” Sapp said. “I think that what this verdict has done is take a policeman who really cares about people and gotten rid of him.”

Sapp said he had “a clear record.” But Steering said the judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall, blocked his plan to introduce evidence of prior questionable acts by Sapp, at least one involving the use of Mace.

Mace is a chemical compound, usually prepared in a spray can, that has the combined effect of tear gas and a nerve gas, temporarily stunning its victims.

Kinder, obviously pleased with the verdict, said she considered it to be “God’s way of taking care of me.”