4 Cleared in Raid on Party by Deputies

The Los Angeles district attorney’s office on Monday dismissed rioting and assault charges against the four remaining defendants in a case that drew outcries of police brutality and civil rights violations after sheriff’s deputies stormed a bridal shower at the Cerritos home of a Samoan-American family.

Misdemeanor rioting charges were dismissed in Bellflower Municipal Court against Emily, Sharon and Olanda Dole, daughters of Arthur Dole, at whose home the incident occurred in February, 1989. Felony charges of rioting and assault were dropped against Mark Rodarte, one of the party guests.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin Young and Sgt. Robert Stoneman, a spokesman for Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block, said the decision to dismiss the charges was reached in part because it would have been difficult to win a jury conviction in the wake of the Rodney G. King beating. The notorious videotaped beating has led to increased mistrust of law enforcement officers, Young said.

Young also said the most compelling argument for dismissal came in May when a Norwalk Superior Court jury acquitted Arthur Dole’s son, David, and two other guests of felony charges that they rioted and assaulted deputies who tried to break up the party.

During the trial, jurors saw a videotape made by a neighbor that showed deputies dragging guests from the house and hitting them with clubs after they were made to lie face-down on the ground. Several neighbors testified in court that the deputies were not assaulted and said the party was not out of hand as the deputies claimed.

Jurors interviewed after the verdict said the videotape had little to do with their decision to acquit the three men. Rather, the jurors said, they did not believe that the deputies had been assaulted or that the deputies had any provocation for raiding the party.

In the wake of the verdict and the dismissal, the Internal Affairs Bureau of the Sheriff’s Department will begin an investigation to determine if there was any misconduct on the part of the deputies, Stoneman said. Investigations are automatic when there are allegations of brutality or other misconduct. They begin only after criminal charges have been resolved, officials said.

The Dole family and most of the more than 40 guests at the party have filed a damage suit against the county for more than $40 million. The FBI is investigating to determine if the family’s civil rights were violated.

“It’s such a great relief,” said Emily Dole, a professional wrestler known as “Mt. Fiji” who was one of those charged. “It was scary there, the thought of maybe going to prison for something you didn’t do,” she said.

“The only people rioting that day were the sheriff’s deputies themselves,” said the family attorney, Garo Mardirossian of Los Angeles.