Fired Officer Asks Court for Reinstatement

Fired police officer Daniel J. Lowrey sought a court order Friday to force the city to reinstate him.

The Superior Court action is necessary because Laguna Beach City Manager Kenneth C. Frank has taken too long to make a decision, said Susan M. Simpson, a legal assistant for Lowrey’s attorney, Tom Perez, who filed the complaint.

Nearly two months ago, the city Personnel Board said the city should reinstate Lowrey, who was fired by Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. after denying that he witnessed another officer kicking a man.

A citizen captured the June 17, 1990, incident on videotape.

Frank said that Friday’s legal complaint will have no effect on the timing of his decision on Lowrey.

“We’re going to be making a decision early next week, so I’m not going to do anything about it,” Frank said.

In September, Frank estimated that his decision would take about two weeks. Later, he said that transcripts of the Personnel Board hearing took longer than expected to prepare and that he wanted to review all of his options with an attorney before making a decision.

If Frank still has made no decision by Tuesday, attorneys will ask the court to set a hearing date on the complaint, Simpson said.

Simpson said the city’s personnel rules do not force the city manager to make a decision within a stated amount of time. The law says Frank may take a “reasonable” amount of time to issue a decision, she said, but the amount of time the city is taking cannot be considered reasonable.

The internal police investigation that led to Lowrey’s firing began when a man claimed in December, 1990, that he was savagely kicked during his arrest that summer in South Laguna. At the conclusion of the investigation in May, Purcell fired Officer Keith R. Knotek, who admitted kicking the man, and Lowrey, for denying he saw the kicking.

Knotek, 26, said the kicking was justified because the man was fighting on the ground with two other officers, who were trying to arrest him on minor warrants for failing to appear in court on alleged alcohol-related offenses. Knotek lost his Personnel Board appeal but filed a lawsuit asking for his job back. That suit is pending.

Lowrey, who was at the scene, told a police captain that he saw the motion of Knotek’s legs but did not say whether any of the kicks actually landed. Purcell said there was no way Lowrey could have missed seeing the kicks, but the Personnel Board disagreed after a half-day hearing on Sept. 6.