LAGUNA BEACH : City Lawyer Disputes Officers’ Testimony

Three police officers who testified last week on behalf of an fellow officer fired for allegedly using excessive force created a “fictional” riot to help justify the videotaped kicking, according to a written argument submitted Thursday by an attorney representing the city.

The 27-page statement was presented as part of closing arguments to last week’s city Personnel Board hearings, in which former officer Keith R. Knotek appealed his May dismissal. Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. fired Knotek, 26, after an internal investigation concluded that Knotek used excessive force in kicking a homeless man arrested last summer. The incident was captured on videotape by an amateur cameraman.

In closing arguments filed on behalf of the city, attorney Jeffrey I. Wertheimer wrote Thursday that officers on the scene exaggerated the danger to officers called to a wild party in South Laguna in June, 1990.

In testimony last week, Knotek and three Laguna Beach officers said they were pelted by rocks and bottles while trying to break up the party. At least three of the officers characterized the incident as a riot.

But a report filed by one of the officers never mentioned a riot, Wertheimer wrote, and officers at the scene did not don riot gear during the incident, according to testimony last week.

” . . . All these officers went out of their way to present the board with a fictional account of the events leading up to the kicking incident as part of a concerted effort to help Knotek justify his actions,” Wertheimer wrote.

In closing arguments on behalf of Knotek, his attorney, Gregory G. Petersen, again argued that the kicking was appropriate because it helped subdue the arrested man, Kevin A. Dunbar, who allegedly struggled violently with two other officers.

Petersen quoted from written statements filed by city attorneys earlier this year in federal court which argued that Knotek used reasonable force in arresting Dunbar. The city filed that argument in response to a lawsuit Dunbar brought after Laguna Beach rejected his $10-million claim.

The city erred in arguing in federal court that the kicking was reasonable and then switching its argument before the city’s Personnel Board to say that the use of force was excessive, Petersen said. Dunbar’s lawsuit against the city is pending in U.S. District Court.

Knotek and Petersen could not be reached for comment Thursday.

According to the arrest report, the first two officers to arrive at the party were attacked by party-goers and called for an emergency backup from other officers. A total of six officers were eventually at the scene, nearly every officer on duty during the graveyard shift.

The officers arrested four people, including Dunbar. Dunbar was arrested after police discovered warrants had been issued after he failed to appear in court on minor charges, mostly involving drinking in public.

With the closing arguments submitted, Knotek and the city will have a week to file rebuttals. The Personnel Board said it will then weigh all the evidence and make a recommendation to City Manager Kenneth C. Frank, probably early next month.