Family of Accident Victim Wins Round in Suit Against Torrance

Torrance police officers had probable cause to arrest an off-duty sergeant on suspicion of drunk driving--but did not do so--after a fatal 1984 traffic accident that triggered a major lawsuit against the Torrance Police Department, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Abby Soven ruled Tuesday.

The ruling, to be announced by Soven today to jurors in the 3-week-old, ongoing trial, was a victory for the family of Kelly Rastello, a 19-year-old from San Pedro who was killed in the crash.

Rastello’s father filed suit 12 days after the Aug. 30, 1984, crash, claiming that Torrance Police Sgt. Rollo Green should have been arrested for drunk driving but that Torrance police covered up the incident.

Soven said Tuesday that it was clear Green could have been arrested because witnesses said he had watery eyes, smelled of alcohol, failed to signal a left turn and cut illegally through an intersection in front of Rastello’s motorcycle.

The ruling by Soven means that the matter has been resolved as far as the jurors are concerned and they will not have to decide on the probable-cause issue.

Lawyers for Green and the city had argued that there was no cause to arrest Green because he passed an eye-gaze test given by one of his colleagues and because other witnesses said that he did not appear to be under the influence.

Soven said she will also instruct jurors that the failure to arrest Green does not, in itself, prove that the Torrance Police Department acted in bad faith.