Laguna Offers $100,000 to Kicking Victim

In what would be one of the largest police-brutality settlements in Orange County history, city officials agreed Tuesday to pay $100,000 to a man who was kicked by an officer during an arrest captured on videotape.

Meeting in a closed-door session Tuesday night, the Laguna Beach City Council endorsed the settlement on the condition that Kevin A. Dunbar drop his federal lawsuit against the city. The city’s settlement offer admits no wrongdoing by the police officers who arrested Dunbar, though the officer who kicked Dunbar has been fired.

“Laguna Beach took the high road on this case by dismissing the officer and giving the benefit of the doubt to the victim,” Councilman Robert F. Gentry said. “Every case has two sides. Our settlement recognizes that. It’s reasonable and is, I think, a very good public policy decision.”

The settlement also requires Dunbar, 25, to drop his lawsuit against the police officers who were at the scene of the arrest if the officers drop their countersuit against Dunbar, Mayor Neil G. Fitzpatrick said. Two of the officers sued Dunbar for allegedly fighting with them during the arrest.

Dunbar and his attorney could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Dunbar had been told earlier of the settlement offer but was asleep and could not be disturbed, his girlfriend, Sarah E. Krassner, told a reporter. Dunbar’s attorney, Christopher B. Mears, was on vacation this week.

Laguna Beach council members reluctantly agreed to pay the $100,000 because of the continuing expense of fighting Dunbar’s lawsuit, Fitzpatrick said.

“I think it’s very unfortunate it happened,” Fitzpatrick said. “It shouldn’t have happened, and I feel the citizens are a little abused by the process. . . . That’s money wasted that could be better used other ways.”

Police arrested Dunbar in June, 1990, outside a party in South Laguna. During questioning, police discovered several warrants for Dunbar’s arrest for failing to appear in court on earlier charges of drinking in public and related allegations.

When police tried to handcuff him, Dunbar struggled on the ground with two officers, prompting Officer Keith R. Knotek to step forward and kick Dunbar twice in the upper right arm, according to officers.

Police Chief Neil J. Purcell fired Knotek over the incident after ruling that the kicks were excessive. Knotek, 26, appealed his termination before the city’s personnel board, but the board last week sided with Purcell’s decision to fire the officer.

Purcell could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

After investigating the incident, the district attorney’s office and the Orange County Grand Jury concluded that there was not enough evidence to file police brutality charges against Knotek. The fired officer and others who were on the scene of Dunbar’s arrest could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

It was the videotape of that arrest that triggered Dunbar’s lawsuit, which was filed in February. A resident of a nearby apartment shot the short videotape, which begins with Knotek kicking at Dunbar while he is lying face down on a sidewalk along Coast Highway.

According to the police investigation of the incident and Knotek’s testimony last month during his appeal of his dismissal, Knotek kicked Dunbar twice in the upper right arm.

The $100,000 settlement is not covered by the city’s insurance policy, which applies only to settlements of more than $500,000, City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said.

The settlement isn’t the largest paid by Laguna Beach for police brutality claims, Frank said.

In April, the council agreed to pay $137,500 to Joslyn Aitken and Peter A. Hands, who alleged that a police sergeant beat and Maced the 38-year-old woman and took her to jail naked. Hands was arrested for allegedly interfering with Aitken’s arrest.

Police were called to the couple’s home after a neighbor heard crying and thought the couple might be abusing their child. No child abuse was ever proven and Hands’ trial ended with a hung jury.

The amount of the Dunbar settlement is comparable to other recent Orange County brutality claims. In April, Santa Ana agreed to pay $75,000 to two men who claimed that police roughed them up and unfairly arrested them after they challenged police for pulling them over.

The county in 1989 paid $82,500 to a convicted drug smuggler who claimed that he was beaten by jail deputies. And in 1985, two Fullerton residents won $100,000 from the city to settle a lawsuit alleging that police falsely arrested them after they filed a complaint of police brutality.