Jury Hears of Alleged Abuse by Torrance Police Officers

A former Torrance police officer and two private citizens testified last week in the first full week of a massive civil trial against the Torrance Police Department that police officials failed to properly investigate allegations that off-duty police officers beat up citizens, drove while they were drunk and, in one case, brandished a gun at a motorist.

The accusations came in Los Angeles Superior Court, during the trial of a lawsuit that claims the county’s third-largest police department routinely condones abuses by its officers.

Jurors also heard a dramatic tape recording of police telephone and radio calls that drew a striking picture of the Aug. 30, 1984, traffic accident that prompted the lawsuit.

19-Year-Old Killed

Kelly Rastello, 19, of San Pedro was killed in that crash and his father filed suit 12 days later, charging that a drunken off-duty Torrance police sergeant, Rollo Green, caused the crash when he made an illegal left-hand turn in front of Rastello’s motorcycle.

Last week’s testimony seemed to be part of a strategy by lawyers Browne Greene and Brian Panish to begin shifting the focus of the trial away from the circumstances around the fatal crash and toward alleged misconduct within the Torrance Police Department. John Rastello’s attorneys have said they will introduce evidence of 40 acts of misconduct that were not properly investigated or recorded in police reports.

Attorneys for Green and the city said the allegations are without merit. All police departments receive complaints of misconduct, said Casey Yim, the city’s lead attorney. “But just because they make a complaint, that doesn’t make it true.”

Defense lawyers have said that Rastello was speeding and weaving through traffic when he crashed into Green’s pickup truck as it made a left turn from Rolling Hills Road onto Whiffletree Lane. Green was not drunk and his colleagues investigated the case fairly and thoroughly, as they always do when allegations of misconduct are leveled at members of the Police Department, the defense lawyers said.

The discussion of the alleged pattern of Torrance police cover-ups began in earnest Tuesday with the testimony of former Torrance Officer Henry Fricke.

Fricke testified that he had heard officers at police headquarters say that Rastello’s speed had been overemphasized in police reports and that Rollo Green had been shielded from other witnesses who might have noticed that he was intoxicated.

Forced Out in 1984

But Fricke, who was forced out of the department in 1984 after he admitted that he had solicited prostitutes, acknowledged on cross-examination that the reports about the accident might have come from officers who were not on the scene.

Fricke also testified about three other incidents in which he said officers guilty of misconduct received little or no punishment.

Judge Abby Soven permitted Fricke to describe the alleged incidents, but without naming the officers.

In one instance, Fricke said, an off-duty officer was suspended for just 10 days after pulling a gun on a motorist during a traffic dispute.

In another, Fricke testified, an off-duty officer exploded in anger and began hitting a man who had bumped into his car, but that fellow officers let the officer go.

And in the third case, Fricke said, four off-duty officers, who are still with the department, beat a man because they believed he was a homosexual.

Officers Disciplined

Yim did not comment on the incidents directly, but he said during cross-examination that officers in all three cases had been disciplined, including one who faced criminal charges and others who were fired.

Soven told the jury that testimony like Fricke’s should not be considered to judge the alleged misconduct itself, but to decide if the Police Department is guilty of a pattern of cover-ups.

On Friday, testimony shifted to a 1988 incident involving two Torrance police officers who were called to break up a rowdy party.

Gerald Lockstadt and five other young men at the party released a videotape to the media last September in an attempt to support their allegations that they were roughed up by Torrance police.

Challenged to Fight

Lockstadt testified that after he was handcuffed and taken to police headquarters, Officer James Lynch brought him into a small interview room and challenged him to fight. “He began to start hitting me and beating me up,” Lockstadt testified. “He was kicking me and beating me in the groin.”

Lockstadt said none of the mistreatment by the officers, including the videotaped choking and beating of a party guest named Thomas Tice, was recorded in police reports about the incident.

Lockstadt and his five friends eventually paid $200 fines after pleading no contest to charges of disturbing the peace in South Bay Municipal Court.

Officers Lynch and Bartlett were placed on leave temporarily, then returned to duty before the district attorney’s office cleared them of criminal wrongdoing. A district attorney’s report concluded that Lynch and Bartlett did their jobs as well as they could in the midst of a hostile crowd.

Declined to Talk

In further defense of the Police Department, Yim said during cross-examination that the department was hampered in performing a thorough investigation because the six young men declined to talk to Torrance’s internal affairs investigators.

A former Los Angeles International Airport security officer also brought his complaint against the Torrance police into the courtroom Friday.

Mario Tremblay said he was stopped at a traffic light on Torrance Boulevard in April, 1983, when a man drove up quickly behind him and slammed on his brakes. Tremblay exchanged obscene gestures with the man, who he said later identified himself as a Torrance police officer.

Tremblay testified that he and the man, who he said he later learned was Officer Steven Hanks, both got out of their cars and argued. Tremblay told the jury that when he got back in his car, Hanks punched him through an open window.

Argument Continued

He testified that he drove around the corner to fix his glasses, but that Hanks pursued him and continued the argument. Hanks again hit him before he fought back, Tremblay testified. Another off-duty officer then drove up and separated the two, telling Tremblay to leave the scene, Tremblay said.

“I got the hell out of there,” Tremblay told the jury. “I was scared to death. . . . I was shocked.”

He said that he had smelled alcohol on Hanks’ breath and that he drove to the Torrance Police Department to file a complaint. On his way, Tremblay testified, Hanks again drove up and repeatedly tried to run him off the road.

Tremblay said he finally gave a report to supervisors at the Police Department but that he still does not know what, if any, punishment Hanks received.

Torrance police spokesman Ron Traber said Friday that Hanks will not be permitted to comment on the incident because of the lawsuit.

‘Proper Steps’

“We did a very thorough investigation of that case,” said Deputy Police Chief Jim Popp. “We have taken proper steps and taken care of it with the investigation.”

Popp said he could not discuss specifics of the incident, including whether Hanks was disciplined, because of a state law that prohibits the release of personnel information about police officers.

The trial has interspersed testimony about alleged misconduct in previous incidents with a detailed review of the investigation on the night of the Rastello accident.

Green told investigators on the night of the accident that he had been drinking, but said he was not drunk. Torrance police officers have testified that they observed Green’s behavior, performed an eye-gaze test and decided that he was not under the influence and should not be arrested. The Police Department has acknowledged that Green’s breath, blood or urine were never sampled to determine the sergeant’s blood-alcohol level.

One Sobriety Test

An investigator of the accident and the supervisor of the investigation were called to the stand last week to explain why only one sobriety test was given, and why it was not administered until 1 1/2 hours after the crash.

Investigating Officer Richard Silagy and Sgt. Michael Paolozzi said that they did not think Green should be given more than the eye-gaze test because he showed no signs of intoxication. Officer Daniel Metzger, who administered the sobriety test, is expected to testify later.

The most graphic evidence from the night of Aug. 30, however, was a tape recording of police radio and telephone lines.

The 53-minute tape condensed conversations that took place from just before midnight until about 7 a.m. in order to create “an audio movie . . . of what happened that night,” said sound expert Anthony Pellicano, who produced the recording.

Conversation Not Taped

The plaintiffs played the tape Thursday, saying that it is important for what it does not include: Officers make only veiled references to Green’s involvement in the crash and Pellicano testified that a conversation between the police watch commander and the sergeant supervising the investigation was made on one of the few Police Department lines that was not taped.

Paolozzi, the supervising sergeant, radioed the station less than half an hour after the crash. The call to the watch commander, Lt. Noel Cobbs, came to the station on a routinely recorded radio channel, but was transferred to an unrecorded telephone line, according to Pellicano.

About 10 minutes later, Officer David Crespin radioed from the scene of the crash to request that another supervisor be dispatched.

“There are some outstanding circumstances,” Crespin told the dispatcher, although he did not elaborate.

Hit and Run

The tape could also support a defense contention that Green left the crash scene for several minutes, because a woman is heard to call the police station to report: “There’s been a hit-and-run accident.”

Other portions of the tape, however, could help the city.

Green’s wife, Debbie, called the station at 4 a.m. to talk to Cobbs.

The phone call began with Debbie Green reporting that her husband had gone to bed with glass from the accident still embedded in his face. Debbie Green told Cobbs that she could not sleep.

Cobbs told her that one of Rastello’s four brothers became angry when he learned about the crash. “You know how it is when a young person like that dies,” Cobbs said. “You’re lookin’ for somebody to blame. But as far as I’m concerned, we covered all the bases and there’s no fault on Rollo’s part.”

No Chemical Test

Mrs. Green asked if there would be criticism later because police did not conduct a chemical test of her husband’s blood-alcohol level.

Cobbs told her that field investigators were convinced by Green’s demeanor and by an eye-gaze test that he was not under the influence. “If there had been any doubt on anybody’s part we would have, you know, brought him in and did a Breathalyzer just to protect him,” Cobbs said.

Cobbs told Green’s wife that a thorough investigation had been conducted so “they can’t come back on us and say we’re trying to cover up some things.”