Woman Says Officer Tried to Talk Her Out of Abuse Charge : Police: Housekeeper seeking $1.5 million for mistaken arrest says an apology turned to threats.

A woman who filed a $1.5-million claim alleging that she was assaulted by Los Angeles police during a mistaken arrest said a uniformed officer went to her home last week to try to talk her out of pursuing legal action against the department.

Thelma Barrientos, a 31-year-old housekeeper, said the officer initially seemed apologetic about the August incident, which occurred when undercover police suspected her of illegally selling cigarettes on a downtown street corner.

But Barrientos, who feared that the undercover police were robbers and contends that they cut her wrist with handcuffs after she tried to flee, said her visitor soon turned hostile. She said the officer, who spoke with her in Spanish, insisted that the alleged scuffle was merely an accident, threatening to return to her house to make sure she had accepted his version of events.

“At first he was really nice . . . saying he was very sorry,” said Barrientos, who was never charged in the incident. “But then he told me I had to say everything the way he was saying. . . . He said it very angrily, in a threatening way: ‘You have to take things the way we tell you to.’ ”

Police and city officials declined to discuss specifics of the case because of the possibility of litigation. However, Sgt. Steve Staples of the LAPD’s Central Division confirmed Thursday that an officer was sent to Barrientos’ home--for the purpose, he said, of explaining why she had been a suspect.

“This was one of those situations where we know that a citizen is not happy with us,” said Staples, who declined to identify the officer. “Now that their emotions are calmed down, we try to meet them face-to-face and explain what happened . . . let them know what we did and why we did it.”

Assistant City Atty. Linda K. Lefkowitz said Thursday that it would have been more appropriate for the officer to have first contacted Barrientos’ lawyer, but she said it was possible that the officer did not know a legal claim was pending.

“My advice would always be to contact the person’s attorney and get their permission first,” Lefkowitz said. “But I would be very surprised if the police officer was sophisticated enough to understand that. . . . I think, in all good conscience, they were just trying to get to the bottom of (the matter).”

But Barrientos’ lawyer, Shirley K. Watkins, contended that the officer’s only aim in visiting her client’s Westlake district apartment was to try to strong-arm her into dropping the claim, generally the precursor of a lawsuit.

“All of this shocking conduct was clearly done by the officer in an attempt to threaten and terrify my client and to browbeat her into forgoing her legal and constitutional rights,” Watkins said in a letter sent last Friday to the city attorney’s office.

The dispute stems from an Aug. 23 incident that occurred while Barrientos, a Guatemalan immigrant who works as a maid in Beverly Hills, was waiting for a bus at 7th Street and Broadway. Barrientos, who recounted the story in the presence of her attorney, said she needed 50 cents for her fare and was asking a friend for change when two men dressed in street clothes asked her for cigarettes.

When Barrientos told them she does not smoke, she said they tried to grab a shopping bag she was carrying.

“I thought they wanted to rob me,” she said. “That’s when I ran.”

As she approached the entrance to a small toy store, Barrientos said, one of the men tackled her, pushing her against a chair. She said he pulled her arms behind her, jabbed her in the back with his knee and handcuffed her so hard that her wrist began to bleed.

When they saw that her bag contained shoes, not cigarettes, they called their sergeant, who arrived about 20 minutes later, took off the handcuffs and explained that the two undercover officers were rookies, she said.

Barrientos, who fainted while talking to the sergeant, was taken to a police station, where her wrists and back were photographed. She said police took her to a hospital for X-rays and to get stitches in her wrist.

After the incident, Barrientos called Police Watch, a collective of police misconduct lawyers, which referred her to Watkins. On Aug. 27, Watkins filed a claim with the city, contending that Barrientos was physically and emotionally injured in the incident. Barrientos said the officer’s visit to her home Oct. 2 only made matters worse.

“I got very nervous because I thought maybe he was going to do something to me,” Barrientos said. “But it was the police, so I had to let him in.”