Chief Nash Will Not Return to Police Dept. : Torrance: He will receive full salary pending his retirement in February after 42 years on the job.

Torrance Police Chief Donald E. Nash announced Wednesday that he will not return to work before his scheduled February retirement.

Nash, 66, has been on leave for a month since undergoing an operation to clear two blocked heart arteries. City officials said that Nash, scheduled to retire on Feb. 10, 1992, had been negotiating a possible earlier retirement before his heart troubles began.

City Council members praised the 42-year department veteran as a progressive administrator who oversaw the modernization of the 238-officer police force. But they acknowledged that a recent string of lawsuits and criminal investigations into Nash’s purchase of two used cars have caused a sour end to the chief’s career.

“I’m hopeful that people will talk about the whole man and the whole career, the whole 42 years, and not just the most recent problems,” City Councilman Bill Applegate said. “I think that he is disappointed that he is not going out on an upstroke.”

Nash, who did not return telephone calls requesting an interview, released a statement announcing that his leave would become official on Saturday. In it, he thanked the residents of Torrance for their support, despite what he called recent “bad press.”

“I want the residents of Torrance to know how very much I have enjoyed serving them these past 42 years,” Nash said in the statement. “The spirit of cooperation and support they have given to me and the Department has been outstanding.”

The department has come under scrutiny several times in recent years.

Most recently, the city agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a 19-year-old San Pedro man who was killed in a traffic accident involving an off-duty Torrance police officer. A jury that heard the case concluded that the department had a “custom and policy” of condoning and covering up misbehavior by its officers.

Last year, the city agreed to pay $1.9 million to a motorcyclist accidentally shot in the face by an officer during a traffic stop. Three officers were fired for orchestrating a cover-up after they told superiors that the motorcyclist had provoked the shooting.

In 1988, the department faced criticism after the nationwide broadcast of a videotape showing a Torrance officer holding a man in a chokehold while another officer hit him with a baton. The man and five friends settled their lawsuit against the department for $105,000.

Nash himself became a focal point early this year when he was found to have underpaid sales tax on two used cars. Nash, who said he simply made mistakes computing the sales tax, has since paid full taxes and penalties on both cars.

The chief bought the first car, a 1987 Jaguar XJ6 seized by officers during a narcotics raid, after he had seen it in the department’s impound lot. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office investigated the purchase but declined to file criminal charges.

A second investigation into Nash’s purchase of a 1957 Thunderbird is still pending, prosecutors said Wednesday. Deputy Dist. Atty. Reid Rose said Nash’s early retirement will not affect the course of the investigation.

In an interview shortly after he announced his February retirement date four months ago, Nash denied that the criminal investigations had anything to do with his decision to step down as chief.

“In 1989 I was planning on retiring when the ($6.5-million lawsuit) came up, and back then I said, ‘This is not a good time to retire,’ so I postponed it,” Nash said. “Now I’ve been here 42 years, I’m 66 years old and . . . damn, you’ve got to have a life of your own sometime.”

Using accrued vacation days, sick time and the city’s industrial injury leave policy, Nash will receive full salary pending his retirement, City Manager LeRoy J. Jackson said. After Feb. 10, Nash will receive a pension of 75% of his final year’s $133,000 salary.

City Council members agreed in February to boost Nash’s final year’s base pay by 15% to make sure he had a larger pension on which to retire.

Councilwoman Dee Hardison said that Nash telephoned council members after the city learned the district attorney was investigating his Thunderbird purchase.

“He said to me, ‘It was an honest mistake, and I never intended to ever bring any embarrassment to the city or to you . . .’ He said, ‘I apologize to you, because I never intended that to happen.’ And I believe that.”

Hardison said Torrance residents have questioned council members about the district attorney’s investigation, the sales tax discrepancies and the raise Nash received in February.

She said she hopes his stepping down “would put it to rest.”

Some council members praised Nash for running a department that they said has created a safe city for Torrance residents to enjoy.

“He was a local boy who did good. This town has been his life,” Applegate said.

Nash, who was born in Long Beach on June 21, 1924, moved to Torrance with his family when he was 15 years old. A graduate of Torrance High School, Nash was working for Shell Oil when friends persuaded him to join the 12-officer Torrance Police Department on Oct. 25, 1948. At the time, the city had a population of 8,000.

Nash began as a foot patrol officer in the city’s old downtown district and was promoted to sergeant in 1957. He became the department’s traffic commander when only three officers were assigned to work traffic patrols.

He was promoted to lieutenant in 1959, and then captain in 1968. In 1969, he became acting police chief when Chief Walter Koenig retired. He was named to the post permanently on Feb. 4, 1970.