Man Settles Suit Over Beating by 2 Sheriff’s Deputies

A man whose leg was shattered by two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies while he was under arrest agreed Wednesday to an undisclosed settlement of his $5-million federal civil rights lawsuit against the county.

The settlement, which is still subject to approval by the county Claims Board and the Board of Supervisors, concluded one of four civil lawsuits involving a series of violent arrests conducted by the same two deputies who arrested Robert Whealon in June, 1984.

The deputies, Lewis Scott McAfee, 32, and Ronald Raul Gomez, 39, were among four officers who arrested Whealon for investigation of drunk driving after an early morning traffic stop in Agoura Hills. The two allegedly struck Whealon repeatedly with a billy club when he refused repeated commands to raise his hands.

Both deputies were also named in two other civil suits filed by arrestees who claimed the officers violently assaulted them. The fourth complaint was filed by the family of a man who was fatally shot in the back by McAfee and Gomez in 1985, after the man crashed a stolen sports car and reached for what the deputies mistakenly thought was a gun.

U.S. Investigation

The U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division launched investigations of all four incidents, but has closed all but the case involving Whealon, said Tracy Strickland, a lawyer representing the county.

The county admitted no liability in agreeing to the settlement of the Whealon suit, and none of the four deputies involved in the arrest will pay any damages under terms of the pact.

Whealon’s lawyers, Michael R. Mitchell and Johnnie Cochran Jr., will receive a total of $125,000.

“I’m very happy,” Whealon said of the agreement, which was reached midway through the second day of trial of the suit before U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian in Los Angeles. “I got the pleasure of bringing the people into court, and that’s my revenge.”

Strickland declined to discuss the settlement, except to say that “there’s no admission of liability on anyone’s behalf.”

“I think these are some of the best deputies I’ve ever represented,” the county attorney said. “And if I had a problem, I would hope that these would be the deputies who would respond.”

Whealon, who had been on probation for a previous alcohol-related driving conviction, said he had consumed only two drinks on the evening of June 4, 1984, before he stopped at a local convenience store to buy a bottle of wine to share with a woman friend. Whealon is from Newbury Park in Ventura County.

The 40-year-old direct mail marketing salesman said he was nervous about pulling his car over when he first saw the flashing lights of the deputies’ car in his rear view mirror, mindful of recent reports of robberies at the hands of law enforcement officers.

Instead of stopping, he headed for the nearby Malibu sheriff’s station, but stopped in a darkened shopping center parking lot when a second patrol car appeared, he testified.

When he got out of the car, Whealon alleged, one deputy grabbed him by the hair, another slugged him in the jaw and, as he lost consciousness, McAfee began smashing his leg with his baton, shattering the bone in 10 places.

Whealon also claimed that the officers dumped him, face first, from a wheelchair once they arrived at a hospital and laughed as he struggled to get up.

In opening trial statements on Tuesday, Mitchell had said he would present evidence that Gomez later tried to influence the testimony of a California Highway Patrol officer who observed the arrest of Whealon.

Mitchell said Gomez telephoned CHP Officer Robert Stegman on the evening before he was to give a deposition in the case, and said: “You remember the reason we had to hit him was because he was going for my partner’s gun.”

“Officer Stegman’s response was, ‘Well, I saw that in your report,’ ” the lawyer said.

The deputies have challenged most points of Whealon’s account, claiming that the arrested man had run several red lights, weaved between lanes, and made obscene gestures during the lengthy pursuit.

Because he had pulled into a dark parking lot, the deputies were fearful that they may have been led into an ambush, yet Whealon ignored their commands to remain in his car, and later, to place his hands on the trunk, Strickland said.

“Mr. Whealon got out and said, ‘Come on, come on and take me. You’re not taking me to jail again,’ ” the county attorney told the jury.

The deputies said an altercation ensued when Whealon struck McAfee in the groin area and then pinned Gomez to the ground. Fearful that Whealon may have been going for Gomez’s gun, McAfee struck Whealon in the leg with his baton until he released his partner, Strickland said.

At no time did any of the officers hit Whealon in the back of the head, or the jaw, and at no time did Whealon cry out in pain, the county attorney said.

Once he got into the patrol car, Strickland said, Whealon bellowed to the officers: “I’m going to sue you. I notice you’re married. You’re going to lose everything you got.”

The two deputies, who were partners working out of the Malibu station at the time, have since been transferred to other field duties. Also named in the suit were two deputies who assisted at the scene, Marquel Salyer Wheeler and Max Grosso.