SANTA ANA : Two Excessive-Force Settlements OKd

The City Council this week approved spending $87,500 to settle two lawsuits that claimed police officers used excessive force.

City officials said the settlements of $75,000 to two young men and $12,500 to a homeless woman were unrelated.

“I don’t think there’s any relationship,” said A.J. Pyka, an attorney for the city. “They just came up at the same time.”

In the first settlement, the city agreed to pay $75,000 to Mario Guillen and his cousin, Rogelio (Roger) Guillen, after a May, 1989, incident. Mario Guillen, 21, and Rogelio Guillen, 23, filed a lawsuit in 1989 charging excessive force and malicious prosecution after being arrested while on their way home from the Strawberry Festival.

Although they did not suffer serious physical injuries, their attorney, Jerry Steering, said they suffered scrapes and bruises along with psychological damage caused by the prospect of going to jail for crimes they did not commit.

Steering said the incident began after officers Thomas Ahearn and Robert Romero pulled over a car driven by relatives of the men because it resembled a vehicle involved in a shooting.

Rogelio Guillen questioned police officers about their actions and was arrested. He was found guilty of interfering with police officers. Mario Guillen, who protested after an officer allegedly threw his cousin against the wall, was acquitted of assault and battery on a police officer, Steering said.

“That led the city to believe that it was possible he (Mario) could be successful in a civil case,” Pyka said.

Mario Guillen, a junior studying architecture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, said he is glad the case is over.

“I’m happy it’s behind me now,” he said. “That’s what I was concerned with. It took a long time. I didn’t care about the money as much as just getting vindicated. . . .”

The city also agreed to pay $12,500 to a homeless woman who was injured when she was arrested by a Santa Ana police officer in 1989.

Karen Paige Kirby, known in court documents as Kathy Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit after she was arrested on Nov. 26, 1989, for allegedly sitting on private property and drinking beer at a railroad station in Santa Ana.

The 32-year-old woman was accused of drinking in public by a police officer who struggled with her while attempting to make an arrest. During the struggle, Kirby was thrown to the ground and her cheekbone was fractured, said Christopher B. Mears, an Irvine lawyer representing Kirby.

Kirby’s lawsuit alleged unlawful arrest and excessive force.

“This amount of money more or less represents compensation for her injuries,” Mears said. “I think a jury would have awarded her that amount. This is not a nuisance settlement. It’s a reasonably good settlement.”

“We settled because we thought we would be successful against false arrest, but it would be a question of fact on the excessive-force charge,” Pyka said.