1981 Rehiring of Fired Officer Cited in Probe of Alleged Brutal Arrest

A Torrance police officer, accused last week of brutality in the videotaped choking and beating of a man in May, had been rehired by the City Council seven years ago despite a recommendation by the police chief that he be kept off the force because of “a propensity toward over-aggressive behavior.”

The Torrance City Council voted on May 12, 1981, to return Officer James Lynch to duty, nine months after Chief Donald Nash fired him for what he called “a behavior pattern on the job which results in continuing incidents and the probability of future incidents of misconduct.”

Lynch and his partner, Officer Ross Bartlett, were accused last week in a federal civil rights lawsuit of using excessive force when they broke up a party May 15 and arrested six men. The men released a videotape to news media that shows Lynch choking Thomas Tice, 20, while Bartlett hit him repeatedly with a night stick.

On Restricted Duty

Both officers have been restricted to desk duty pending investigations by the Police Department and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Hugh Manes, the attorney for the six men, said Wednesday that the city of Torrance was negligent in rehiring Lynch.

“They knew about this fellow,” Manes said. “The fact that they took him back says that there is a lot of negligence all the way up and down the line, not only in the Police Department, but in the administration of the city.”

But police officials and City Council members asked that the public not judge the incident solely on the basis of the videotape. The tape does not show, said Lt. Robert Armstrong, head of the Police Department’s personnel division, that Lynch and Bartlett were repeatedly threatened and surrounded by as many as 35 men at the party.

Richard Shinee, an attorney for the two police officers, agreed.

“I think an investigation of the entire incident will vindicate the actions of both officers,” Shinee said. Lynch, 35, and Bartlett, 24, could not be reached for comment.

Police and city records show that Lynch’s 1980 termination was controversial. Dozens of officers attended hearings and cheered Lynch on when he appealed to the city’s Civil Service Commission for reinstatement.

And a city staff member who requested anonymity said City Council members were under “tremendous pressure” from the influential police officers’ union to rehire Lynch.

The series of events leading to his firing began early the morning of July 4, 1979 when Lynch responded to a call for assistance from two other officers who were trying to arrest some alleged PCP users. According to police reports and his own lawyer, Lynch said that he found the officers injured and struggling to handcuff one of the suspects and that he was forced to kick the man in order to subdue him.

But Sgt. Michael Hertica, a supervisor who was also on the scene, said the suspect was already under control and that Lynch used excessive force.

Nash ordered Lynch to undergo a psychological evaluation. Psychologist Alice Pitman at first ordered that Lynch be removed from patrol duty, but later allowed him to return to the street.

But a year after she first saw him, Pitman recommended that the Police Department consider firing Lynch.

Nash sent Lynch a letter Aug. 8, 1980, advising him that he would be fired. Lynch’s appeal reached the City Council on May 12, 1981.

The council voted 6 to 1 to return Lynch to the force, putting him on probation for a year and recommending psychological counseling.