Witnesses Force Deputy’s Prosecution for Assault

When Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff David Blitz was accused of severely beating a motorist after a routine traffic stop in Carson, his supervisors quickly cleared the officer of any wrongdoing.

They concluded that Blitz was merely defending himself on that September afternoon in 1988 when he arrested Timothy Cundiff for assault on an officer.

But three witnesses were so outraged that they went to a local newspaper and told a different story that eventually resulted in criminal prosecution of the deputy.

The witnesses said that Blitz repeatedly struck Cundiff with his baton after handcuffing him. Cundiff said later that the deputy also rammed him head-first into a nearby fence, shoved him into a patrol car, then slammed the door on his legs.

When the South Bay Daily Breeze published its story quoting the witnesses, the Sheriff’s Department launched a new investigation. That resulted in the district attorney’s office filing criminal charges against Blitz, a five-year veteran.

Last year, Blitz pleaded no contest to a felony charge of assault under color of authority and resigned from the Sheriff’s Department.

In a sworn deposition, one of the witnesses said he was so stunned by what he saw that he wrote down his observations in a notebook minutes after the incident.

Robert Habig said he was stopped at a train crossing when he watched as a deputy “jammed the club into the cuffed driver’s ribs.”

“The (driver) bent forward in pain and then the policeman hit the cuffed man in the back of his head, again on his arm, again on his upper back,” wrote Habig, who went on to describe the deputy kicking and hitting Cundiff as the motorist lay on the street.

Habig said another witness was so upset that he went directly to the Carson sheriff’s station to report the beating. The witness telephoned him later that night to say that officers refused to take his formal complaint, Habig said.

Habig said he then called the local newspaper.

Cundiff, now 36, was released without charges being filed. He said he suffered cuts and bruises and was treated for a broken bone in his shoulder. He later underwent surgery for an infection in his arm that stemmed from the incident, he said. Cundiff has a suit pending against the county.

Blitz, 28, did not respond to requests for comment. And Senior Deputy County Counsel Thomas Tyrell, who is representing the county in the civil case, also declined comment.

But Cundiff’s attorney, Ronald Skyers, said that if it had not been for the witnesses--none of whom knew his client or each other--the outcome would have been different.

“My client is scruffy looking,” Skyers said. “He has that biker look, although he’s actually a gentle person. No one would have believed him--and no one did believe him at first--against the word of a police officer.”