Boy’s Father Wins $5.7-Million Suit in Kidnap Death

Nine years ago, soon after his son was found dead in the garage of a neighbor’s home, Ronald Tolleson felt West Covina police were partly to blame.

On Tuesday, a Pomona Superior Court jury agreed, awarding Tolleson a $5.7-million judgment against the city, Police Chief Craig Meacham and former Officer Larry J. Todd.

In ruling against the city, the jury that heard the wrongful death lawsuit found that a “special relationship” existed between the Tolleson family and the Police Department, which did not live up to its responsibility to do everything possible to ensure Ronnie’s Tolleson’s safety.

Tolleson said the trial was an ordeal, but that he was gratified with the outcome.

“I know that they were negligent and I hope that the next time a little boy is captured . . . police do a better job,” he said. “If you don’t have the expertise to handle a case, you go and get it from somewhere else, especially when a child’s life is at stake.

“They owed it to me and my son.”

Ronnie, 10, was found strangled in the garage of neighbor Danny Jerome Young eight days after he was abducted from his home on Patty Court in March, 1980.

Officers conducted a partial search of Young’s residence the night of the disappearance, but found no trace of the boy.

Young, who was on parole from the California Youth Authority, became the main suspect and was eventually convicted of second-degree murder and kidnaping for ransom.

The exact time of the boy’s death became central in the trial of the lawsuit, with Tolleson’s attorneys maintaining that a more thorough and competent investigation--including a detailed search of the home Young shared with his family--may have saved the boy.

Medical examiners testified that Ronnie was alive for several days after his abduction. And a retired police lieutenant, William Flynn, testified that Meacham rejected a request to conduct a thorough search of Young’s residence.

Tolleson’s attorneys, Peter M. Wucetich and Charles C. Simon, also argued that inexperienced officers botched the investigation, allowing a potential suspect to escape from a ransom drop that police had under surveillance.

Thomas J. Feeley, the city’s attorney, argued that Young’s own testimony established that Ronnie was dead before police were contacted. Young, who is serving life in prison without possibility of parole, testified on the city’s behalf, saying that he killed Ronnie immediately after kidnaping him.

Jurors said they believed that police, and particularly Meacham, negligently pursued the investigation, which they were ill-equipped to handle without outside help.

“They didn’t have their act together,” said juror Brian Fulkerson, who added that most of the blame rests on Meacham. “He was in charge and didn’t exercise the right authority.”

Juror Minnie Crane called Meacham’s handling of the case “incompetent,” saying that the chief, the only member of the department with kidnap investigation experience, did not have the “abilities and credentials” to handle the case.

Meacham said the jury misapplied the legal aspect of “special relationship,” but said he accepted full responsibility for the conduct of the investigation.

“The adage ‘the buck stops here,’ applied in this situation,” he said.

The state Supreme Court has held that a “special relationship” occurs when a public entity voluntarily takes responsibility for an individual’s well-being. During the trial Tolleson testified that police officers assured him that they would return his son safely.

Meacham said the city may appeal, noting that the reputation of the department has suffered. He said he believes police could do nothing to save the boy.

The city may forgo an appeal, Wucetich theorized, because a loss at the appellate level would establish precedent concerning police liability. While the current verdict “sends a message” to municipalities and police, no binding precedent was set, the lawyer said.