Torrance Police Beat 6 Men, Suit Alleges

Armed with a videotape of two policemen choking and beating a 20-year-old Torrance man, apparently into unconsciousness, attorneys filed suit Thursday against the Torrance Police Department on behalf of the man and five friends who also allege that they were assaulted after police tried to break up a party last May.

The six men, ranging in age from 20 to 26, allege in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court, that they were the victims of unprovoked attacks by Torrance police, first at the party and then after they were taken to the Police Department’s jail.

The men said they waited more than four months to make their allegations because criminal charges against them had not been resolved. Last week, all six pleaded no contest to charges of disturbing the peace and paid $200 fines, according to their attorney, Hugh R. Manes.

Torrance Deputy Police Chief Jim Popp said Thursday that the two officers involved in the incident, James Lynch and Ross Bartlett, have been reassigned to desk jobs pending an internal review. Police officials were unaware of the allegations until shortly before Thursday’s press conference, Popp said, and have since asked the district attorney’s office to launch its own investigation.

“We are obviously very concerned,” said police spokesman Robert Armstrong.

Called by Paramedics

But Armstrong said the tape does not prove that the officers used excessive force. Police reports, he said, show that two officers were repeatedly threatened, attacked and surrounded by as many as 35 men when they came to the unruly party.

The police report says the officers were called to the party by paramedics, who had come earlier to treat a musician injured in a fight. Torrance Fire Department paramedics called for assistance because people at the party were “extremely intoxicated, belligerent and were interfering with their rescue attempt,” according to the report, written by Bartlett.

The videotape, played at a press conference called by attorneys for the six men, was made by a guest who was filming the festivities at a “moving out” party at the home of one of the men, Manes said. The guest, who the men declined to identify, turned his camera on police officers when they arrived about 7 p.m., he said.

The men said the videotaping of the incident began shortly after one of them, Clifford S. Shirk Jr., 26, was attacked by Lynch and Bartlett.

As the tape begins, Shirk is shown being led away in handcuffs and several young men are screaming obscenities at the officers in a confusing scene at the front of the house. The tape shows most of the party-goers retreating toward the house.

Thomas Tice, 20, of Torrance said he was trying to get another party guest to move away from police when Officer Lynch approached him and pushed him. The tape shows an officer, identified by the men as Lynch, applying a chokehold to Tice while the officer identified as Bartlett hits him eight times on the back and behind the knees with a night stick.

Lynch continued to apply the chokehold, and Bartlett to swing the night stick, even after Tice’s body went limp, the pictures show. Tice said he lost consciousness, but was denied medical treatment.

The officer identified as Lynch then approached the cameraman and told him to leave the scene. The man’s voice is heard to respond: “Are you going to hit me, too?” Lynch replied: “No, but I will take you to jail.”

The picture then became jumbled as the man insisted, “You’re not taking my camera.” The man who made the tape drove off and was followed by police for a time, but the officers did not stop him, according to the men.

Also claiming that they were assaulted are Eric Musick, 20, of Redondo Beach; Gerald Lockstadt, 24, of Downey; Darrick Tucker, 20, of Inglewood and Steve Warner, 23, of Venice. Their lawsuit alleges that the men’s civil rights were violated and asks $500,000 in damages for each.