San Clemente Officer’s Arrest Puts Strain on Colleages

His city besieged by a serial rapist and his department stunned by an officer charged with rape and sexual assault, Police Chief Albert C. Ehlow said Friday that he hoped the arrest of one of his own would not tarnish the reputation of the police force.

“I think that by and large, with the citizens of our city, that we have a good rapport and they respect our agency,” Ehlow said at a news conference. “We hope that they would realize that one incident does not erode the trust or any confidence they have in our officers.”

On Thursday, Officer David Wayne Bryan, 32, was arrested on nine felony charges and four misdemeanor charges of rape, sexual battery, assault and burglary involving three local women. He remained in county jail Friday in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Meeting with reporters at the Police Department, Ehlow reflected on Bryan’s otherwise good employment record and the bad timing of his arrest, which coincides with the videotaped beating of Rodney G. King by Los Angeles police, and a series of unsolved rapes that has terrorized the coastal community since October.

“I would not say it has shaken the department, but it sure has depressed us a lot,” Ehlow said.

What has made it especially difficult for the 50-member department, Ehlow said, is that Bryan, a former Marine and four-year veteran of the force, is a hard-working, outgoing officer who never complained when asked to work overtime.

“I looked at some of his personnel evaluations, and it said he was helpful towards others,” Ehlow said. He then noted that Bryan was part of the department’s “family” and just last week had attended the funeral of a police dispatcher’s relative.

“When it happens in your department and you have worked with that individual for years and days and hours, and you back him up and he backs you up, you think you know him and you think everything is fine,” Ehlow said, “it’s absolutely shocking and people are in disbelief. They cannot believe that this happened, that he would have done that.”

Bryan is accused of committing a “date rape” of a 21-year-old woman in January and sexually assaulting another woman two days earlier. The third alleged assault occurred while he was on duty and in uniform in 1989.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jan C. Sturla, head of the district attorney’s sexual assault unit, said the officer’s arraignment is scheduled April 17 in South Orange County Municipal Court.

After his arrest Thursday, law enforcement officials disclosed that Bryan has been on paid leave since late January, when the department and the district attorney received a complaint from a woman the morning after she said she went out with him.

Bryan is recently separated from his wife, Ehlow said, adding that he did not know much about the officer’s relationships with the three women.

“In the first case, he had met her and had a date with her. Other than that, I don’t know,” he said.

A newspaper article about the start of the investigation in January did not mention Bryan’s name, but prompted the two other women to come forward and file complaints, Ehlow said.

Based on what investigators know about the serial rapist, the police chief stressed that Bryan does not match the description of the suspect believed to have committed five rapes in San Clemente since last October.

City officials will decide next week whether to pursue disciplinary action against Bryan immediately or wait until the conclusion of his trial, said David C. Larsen, a private attorney representing the city.

“It’s a very serious charge and the city takes it very seriously,” Larsen said.

Ehlow said the department’s officers will perform their duties with “heavy” hearts and “feel some pain for David (Bryan),” but he did not expect the arrest to affect job performances.

“Since the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles, and this coming to light shortly after that, I am sure, in some people’s eyes, it’s going to have an effect on how they view the San Clemente Police Department,” Ehlow told reporters.

Even before Bryan’s arrest was announced, the chief said, police officers were feeling more stress on the street since the Los Angeles beating. Citizens have mentioned it repeatedly during encounters with officers.

“We have had people say, ‘Beat me, beat me, like they did in L.A.,’ ” Ehlow said.

John Barnett, an attorney representing one of the Los Angeles police officers involved in the Rodney King case, accompanied Bryan to his initial court appearance.