Teen-Ager Says He Was Brutalized by Police : Law enforcement: Lawyers for youth file legal claims against city and county. They also demand an investigation of Juvenile Hall medical practices.

Attorneys for a teen-ager who says he was brutalized by police last month then denied adequate treatment for nearly two days while being held at Central Juvenile Hall demanded Tuesday that county supervisors launch a full-scale investigation into medical conditions at the facility.

In addition, lawyers for Richard Gomez, 15, of El Sereno, filed legal claims against the city and the county, contending that the youth’s injuries were so severe and had been neglected so long that he nearly died and had to undergo emergency surgery.

Such claims, usually rejected by the governmental bodies involved, are required before lawsuits can be filed.

On Tuesday, the youth, flanked by his lawyers and his father, Manuel, told of being kicked repeatedly in the stomach by one officer, then punched in the stomach by another after he was arrested June 28 on suspicion of possessing a 25-caliber handgun.

An Internal Affairs Division investigation into the brutality charges against the officers was launched two weeks ago, after a nurse who treated Gomez at Juvenile Hall filed a complaint, Cmdr. William Booth, a police spokesman, confirmed.

But Jorge Gonzalez, one of two lawyers representing Gomez, told a press conference Tuesday that the case may indicate a problem wider than police misconduct.

“In the last several weeks, county juvenile facilities have been found lacking in their custodial practices,” Gonzalez said. “That lax attitude may have spilled over to medical personnel.”

Gonzalez was referring to a recent spate of escapes from Central Juvenile Hall in East Los Angeles that have led to charges of lax security at the facility.

He also was referring, the lawyer said, to the California Youth Authority’s unprecedented decertification last week of Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey because of health and safety violations. Los Padrinos was recertified Monday by CYA officials after improvements were confirmed.

Both juvenile facilities are run by the county and are under the jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors.

Raul Solis, superintendent of Central Juvenile Hall, said he could not comment on the Gomez case beyond confirming the dates the youth was at the facility and when he was hospitalized.

Gonzalez characterized the treatment Gomez received at the juvenile facility as “negligent and callous.” Even though the youth complained repeatedly of abdominal pains and asked for a doctor after arriving June 29, he was ignored and spent the night on the reception room floor, he said.

When Gomez saw a nurse and a doctor the next day, the lawyer said, the pain was dismissed as being due to bruised ribs. Hours later, however, Gomez was found unconscious and rushed to County-USC Medical Center, where he underwent surgery for severe internal bleeding and a damaged liver and was hospitalized for nine days, Gonzalez said.

A medical center spokeswoman, citing privacy laws, said no details of the case could be made public.

At Tuesday’s press conference, Gomez pulled up his shirt and showed reporters a taped, nine-inch surgical scar down the middle of his abdomen.

The night he was arrested, Gomez said, he was walking with a girl near his home at Monterey Road and Armour Avenue in El Sereno when an unmarked police car screeched to the curb and officers ordered him to freeze and put his hands on his head.

After he complied, the Eagle Rock High School student said, a male officer approached him from behind and, without provocation, kicked him in the side. The officer continued to push and kick him and at one point he passed out, Gomez said.

Later, after he was handcuffed and placed in a police car, a woman officer punched him in the stomach when he complained that he was hurt, Gomez said.

Sandra Bustamante, 29, said she watched the incident from across the street and was shocked at the behavior of the officers.

“Even if he had a gun, I didn’t see him do anything to cause them to treat him like that,” she said.