Sued Deputy Is Subject of Earlier Claims

A sheriff’s deputy who is appealing a three-day suspension for jabbing a suspect in the head with a baton has been sued in that incident and in two others.

In one of two lawsuits still pending, Deputy Steven Capuano, 30, is accused of kicking a man in the back during an arrest.

The county settled one lawsuit against Capuano by paying $9,000 to a 65-year-old man who contended that the officer drove his patrol car into the back of the man’s truck after a stop for a traffic violation.

In the jabbing incident, Capuano was suspended by the Sheriff’s Department for three days in May for using undue force in the arrest of Michael Harvey of Camarillo on Dec. 28, 1989.

In the lawsuit stemming from that incident, Harvey and his brother maintain that their civil rights were violated when Capuano used excessive force. But the officer said the case “has been blown out of proportion.”

“Shooting incidents don’t gain as much attention as this has,” Capuano argued.

Capuano and Deputy Timothy Cowgill arrested Michael and Christopher Harvey when the deputies found a truck reported stolen by the Harveys’ boss, Marvin McCabe Jr., across the street from the Harveys’ house.

Michael Harvey was placed on the ground by the deputies when they believed he was trying to flee, said Lawrence Matheney, an assistant county counsel representing the Sheriff’s Department.

When Harvey tried to stop the deputies from handcuffing him, Capuano jabbed the suspect’s head with his baton and put the stick across Harvey’s neck and applied force, according to a suspension letter sent to Capuano by Assistant Sheriff Oscar Fuller.

Charges were never filed against the brothers, Matheney said. They have named Capuano, Cowgill, the Sheriff’s Department, McCabe and Ventura County in the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. They are seeking $1 million in damages.

Capuano, who now works as a patrol deputy in Camarillo, said he jabbed Michael Harvey in the head to bring him under control during a violent confrontation.

“I in no way intended to do anything malicious or inflict undue injury or suffering on this individual,” said Capuano, who has been a deputy nine years.

If Capuano wins the appeal, he would receive $400 to $500 in back pay and notice of the decision would be put in his departmental record.

In the kicking incident, Ronald Templin of Somis contends in his suit that Capuano and the Sheriff’s Department used excessive force in his Jan. 15 arrest for speeding.

Templin pulled to the side of Howard Road near Camarillo about half a mile after the officer had turned on the flashing lights of his patrol car, attorney Hiram Raldiris said.

Capuano got out of the patrol car with his gun drawn and demanded that Templin get out of his vehicle and kneel, Raldiris said. Templin replied that he had undergone surgery on his knee and could not kneel, Raldiris said.

Templin then tried to kneel and his leg buckled, causing him to pitch forward, the lawyer said. Capuano then kicked Templin in the shoulder blades, handcuffed him and rammed his head into the ground, Raldiris said.

Templin, who was cited for speeding and another minor violation, was found after the incident to have a herniated disc, Raldiris said. Templin has undergone $8,000 in chiropractic treatment and is asking for unspecified damages, Raldiris said.

Attorney Alan Wisotsky, who is representing Capuano in the case, said the officer was exonerated in an internal investigation by the Sheriff’s Department.

In the incident in which Capuano is accused of driving into the back of a car, Max Hobbs Morelock contends that the jolt caused the retina of his left eye to detach, attorney Barbara DiMeo said. Morelock had undergone cataract surgery on both eyes three days before the Oct. 21, 1989, incident, his attorney said.

Capuano cited Morelock for speeding at 68 m.p.h. and for using an illegal lane at an intersection. The county contended that Morelock had stopped unexpectedly, DiMeo said.

Morelock went to the hospital for emergency treatment and had a second operation on his eye Oct. 23, DiMeo said.

Wisotsky, who is also representing Capuano in the Morelock suit, said the automobile accident had nothing to do with excessive force.