Youths Charge Torrance Police With Cover-Up

Torrance police are investigating a late-night accident March 29 that has prompted a complaint of a police cover-up of the incident.

Two Harbor City youths said they crashed their pickup truck into a tree on Ocean Avenue when they attempted to flee a group of rowdy teen-agers who had surrounded their vehicle and threatened them. A bakery truck driver who witnessed the accident briefly chased the group of teen-agers before calling police.

The youths, Dustin Lunde, 17, and John Urman, 18, say that Torrance police who handled the accident became noticeably less interested in investigating it after the youths identified one of the teen-agers as the son of a Torrance police officer.

Lunde’s mother, Shirlyn Pappas, says she complained about the officers’ conduct the next day and that she believes police are covering up the incident because an officer’s son is involved.

But Sgt. Stephen Ross, internal affairs investigator, said Friday that Pappas “made no formal personnel complaint.”

Sgt. Ron Traber, a department spokesman, said a number of the teen-agers have been identified. However, he said he could neither confirm nor deny whether one is a police officer’s son, explaining that juveniles are involved and the investigation is continuing.

“All of the allegations in the case are being investigated,” Torrance Deputy Chief Jim Popp said. He would not comment on Pappas’ claims of a cover-up.

Lt. Michael Hertica, the department’s traffic commander, said police are still interviewing people involved in the incident.

“The kids on the street (accused by the Harbor City youths) are telling a different story,” Hertica said Friday. But he said he could not disclose details because the case is under investigation.

Lunde himself has familial ties to the Torrance police.

His stepfather is Timothy Pappas, a former Torrance police officer who was dismissed with two other officers after he accidentally shot a construction worker who had been stopped for questioning in 1988. Pappas pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of filing a false report. Shirlyn Pappas has criticized Torrance police in that incident, saying the three officers were told to synchronize their stories of the shooting.

On the night of the accident, Lunde said, Urman was driving the truck south on Ocean Avenue at about 11:45 p.m. on the way to a friend’s house when they encountered a makeshift barricade across the street, consisting of traffic barriers strung together with fishing line.

When he climbed out of the truck to remove the barriers, Lunde said, the group of teenagers began running after him.

“I jumped into (the truck). I was really scared,” Lunde said.

He said that one teen-ager jumped on the hood of the truck and started pulling the antenna with both hands. Another teen-ager grabbed onto the back of the truck, and a third ran behind carrying some kind of metal object, he said.

Urman said one of the teenagers threatened to break the truck window.

Urman stepped on the gas and barreled into a nearby tree, and the teen-agers scattered, Lunde said. He said he cut his face when he hit the windshield of the pickup.

A Ramona Bakery driver, Tony Amalfitano, said he was parked nearby when he saw seven to nine teen-agers chasing and yelling at the youths in the pickup.

After the accident, Amalfitano said, he chased the teen-agers with his truck and briefly cornered two of them before calling police.

Lunde and Urman said the officers who came to the scene did not write down names of the teenagers or that of the bakery driver, but they did administer a sobriety test to Urman. Both youths say they had not been drinking.

“They were aggressive toward us, as if we did something wrong,” Lunde said. He said that when he asked why the police were not pursuing the teen-agers, one officer told him: “Son, you better shut your mouth, or I’ll make your life a living hell.”

Hertica said police did not compile a crime report until the next day because they lacked sufficient information. He said the youths did not provide the name of a witness to officers at the scene, and that police later got Amalfitano’s name and contacted him.

“In this case, the information came in piecemeal,” Popp said.