Beating of Guests Taped in Disputed Accounts of Party

Members of a Cerritos family said Sunday they were handcuffed and beaten and their home was in shambles after Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies stormed in during a prenuptial celebration.

Two neighbors videotaped the scene Saturday night as deputies in riot gear surrounded and entered the house in the 18400 block of Noran Avenue. On one of the tapes, deputies can be seen clubbing people who had been handcuffed and made to lie face down on the driveway or on the front lawn.

The Sheriff’s Department said 35 party-goers were arrested in the incident.

Sgt. Tom Gordon, watch commander at the department’s Lakewood Station, said that a neighbor called the department to complain about noise at 9:21 p.m. Deputies were sent to check out the reported disturbance, he said.

When deputies arrived at the scene and tried to get those at the shower to disperse, they were pelted with rocks, bricks and bottles, Gordon said.

Although neighbors said about 100 deputies in 50 cars finally showed up at the house, Gordon said about 50 deputies were involved.

Gordon said about 10 deputies were injured in the incident. The extent of their injuries could not be immediately determined.

Family members said Sunday that no one threw anything at the deputies. No rocks, bricks or bottles were in view at the scene Saturday night or Sunday, but Gordon said that the debris was picked up by deputies as evidence.

All 35 taken into custody were booked on suspicion of unlawful assembly, failure to disperse and battery on peace officers. David Dole, brother of the bride to be, also was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, said Garo Mardirossian, his attorney.

Suffers Broken Hand

All except David Dole were released Sunday after posting bail. He was hospitalized in sheriff’s custody with several lacerations on his scalp, as well as a broken hand, on which he must have surgery, his attorney said.

Sgt. Chris Gutierrez of the department’s information bureau said Sheriff Sherman Block would have no comment on the incident until he reviews the tape and other evidence.

The bridal shower for Melinda Dole--who lives at the house with her father and three sisters--began at noon and lasted into the night.

Her father, Arthur Dole, an electrician at a Long Beach company for 21 years, his two sons and four of his daughters were among those arrested. Melinda Dole was not taken into custody.

“They treated me like an animal,” said Dole, showing swollen hands with cuts across them from where he said he had been handcuffed. “This is a family. We’ve never been in trouble.”

Events Described

Melinda Dole said most of the party guests were inside the house when the deputies arrived. She said family members closed the garage door to the house and turned the music down at the request of the deputies.

The next thing she knew, she said, helicopters were flying over. She said deputies then surrounded the house.

The videotape shows several family members, including Arthur Dole, coming out of the house and telling police that people inside had no weapons and were prepared to leave.

David Dole, 28, was one of those who tried to talk to deputies, family members said.

The attorney said that Dole, a warehouse supervisor for a store in the Cerritos Mall, suffered a broken hand when he put it up to protect himself and one of his sisters from the blows of a police club.

Emergency Call

Mardirossian said that David Dole called 911 after the deputies arrived, saying that he needed help because deputies were outside provoking guests. The attorney said that Dole was told over the 911 line to ask for the sergeant in charge. When he did that, he was attacked, Mardirossian said.

One of those arrested was Emily Dole, a member of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW), known to television audiences as Mt. Fuji. The wrestling star, Melinda Dole’s older sister, said she was hit with clubs and shackled by authorities.

On Sunday afternoon, members of the Dole family surveyed damage to the family’s modest tract home. Bloodstains could be seen on a carpet and on a window ledge. Bridal gifts lay strewn across the floor of one room of the house.

Neighbors interviewed Sunday said they were shocked at the incident and defended the Dole family. No neighbor said he or she had complained about noise from the bridal shower.