Officer to Be Arraigned in Beating

Two assault charges have been filed against a Hawthorne policeman accused by fellow officers of using his flashlight to strike a 17-year-old boy who was handcuffed and lying face down on the ground.

Officer John Garza, 25, will be arraigned today in Los Angeles Municipal Court on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and assault under color of authority.

Garza would lose his job and could face up to four years in prison if convicted of the two felonies, police Capt. Steve Port said. The 2 1/2-year veteran has been on paid leave since the June 12 incident, Port said.

The case is the second accusation of excessive force this year against Garza, who was ordered suspended in February after departmental allegations that he mistreated a prisoner, failed to report the prisoner’s injuries and unsafely operated a police vehicle, said Doug Gates, city employee relations officer. No criminal charges were filed in the case, and Garza has appealed the suspension.

Garza’s lawyers declined comment on either case.

The most recent incident began at 3 a.m. on June 12, when Hawthorne police received a report that gunshots had been fired in the Holly Park neighborhood at the northeast end of the city, Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher Darden said.

A patrol car carrying two other officers arrived in the neighborhood and found a young man standing in the street with a .38-caliber revolver, Darden said. The man ran, throwing the pistol to the ground, before speeding off in a car with the 17-year-old Los Angeles youth.

Port declined to name the youths, who he said had fired shots randomly “for kicks.”

The lone patrol car gave chase for several blocks before the fleeing car stopped near 111th Street and Western Avenue, where the two youths were handcuffed.

Garza was in the second of two backup cars that arrived after the 17-year-old was face down on the ground.

Garza “got out of the car and literally ran over to where the victim was proned out and handcuffed and struck him on the head with a flashlight,” Darden said.

The single blow from the heavy police flashlight opened a 1- to 2-inch gash on the youth’s head that required several stitches to close, Port said.

“We can’t discover any motivation for it,” Port said. “It was just an absolute act of misconduct.”

Other officers reported the incident to a supervisor at the end of their shifts, Port said. The department turned the case over to the district attorney’s office.

Police declined to say whether the two youths were charged.

No details could be learned about the February incident that led to departmental charges.

The charges against Garza follow two other complaints of police brutality against the Hawthorne Police Department in the last year.

Leuzinger High School students Jonas E. Woodring and Richard C. Mendez filed a lawsuit last month claiming that they were attacked by police while attending a football game at Hawthorne High School last fall. And brothers Kirk and Albert Thierry, 16 and 18 respectively, charged in a claim filed this month that they were beaten by police after the younger boy fled from officers on a motorcycle.

Police officials say officers acted correctly in both incidents. They said the criminal charges against Garza prove that the department takes action against police brutality claims that they consider legitimate.