4 L.A. Deputies Indicted in Trucker Beating

Four Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were indicted Wednesday on charges of violating the civil rights of a truck driver who was kicked and beaten by officers after he refused to move his rig during a 1987 confrontation.

A federal grand jury indicted the veteran deputies on six counts of violating the civil rights of Coy Blaine Willbanks and submitting false evidence to justify their use of force against him during an incident outside a Whittier mini-mall.

The deputies--the first to be indicted for excessive force since the beating of Rodney G. King--are Sam Ferri, 38, of Huntington Beach; Joseph Lomonaco, 35, of Chino Hills; Bruce Prewett, 38, of Covina, and Everett Maldonado, 33, of La Habra.

None of the deputies, who worked together at the Norwalk station, could be reached for comment. If convicted, Ferri and Lomonaco face a maximum sentence of 13 years imprisonment and $13,000 in fines. Prewett and Maldonado face 11 years imprisonment and $11,000 in fines.

The Sheriff’s Department was unable to immediately provide information on whether the deputies had been relieved of duty, which is standard procedure when officers are charged with felonies.

But an attorney with the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, which represents the officers, said he believed the deputies remained on the job Wednesday.

Attorney Richard Shinee criticized the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice as overzealous in pursuing the Willbanks case.

“It can’t help but undermine the morale of very dedicated and hard-working members of the Sheriff’s Department to dredge up a 5-year-old case and attempt to prosecute it,” said Shinee, whose organization represents 6,000 of the 8,000 sworn officers in the Sheriff’s Department.

“This represents a significant escalation of the over-scrutinization of law enforcement in Southern California,” Shinee added, referring to independent investigations of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department after the videotaped police beating of King last March.

In the Willbanks case, there was no videotape of the violent confrontation between deputies and the 31-year-old trucker from Beulah, Mo. But a number of witnesses told FBI agents that the deputies used excessive force against Willbanks on the night of Feb. 27, 1987.

The truck driver had pulled his tractor-trailer into a mini-mall parking lot after driving for 36 straight hours. He fell asleep in the cab and was awakened by deputies, who wanted the truck moved because it was blocking parking spaces.

Willbanks has testified that he refused to move the truck because he was too tired.

The four deputies beat Willbanks, then conspired to cover up their actions, the indictment says. The officers are accused of lying in their police reports and in court testimony when they claimed Willbanks had assaulted them and “resisted arrest by struggling violently while he was being handcuffed outside his truck.”

Witnesses told FBI agents that the deputies beat Willbanks with their batons while he was inside the truck, then continued to strike him on the head and legs with metal flashlights and nightsticks after the driver fell to the pavement.

Willbanks, who would later receive $150,000 to settle a lawsuit against the county, was hospitalized for three days and required 25 stitches for his head cuts. He said leg injuries from the beating led to circulatory problems that prevented him from driving a truck.

Willbanks was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer, but a jury took less than 30 minutes to acquit him.

Ferri and Lomonaco, who had testified at Willbanks’ trial, said the 6-foot-4-inch, 275-pound trucker had resisted arrest and flailed at deputies with a stick and his feet. Ferri and Lomonaco face charges that they lied in court.

Willbanks could not be reached for comment Wednesday. He told The Times last week that he had been interviewed on two occasions by FBI agents and federal prosecutors in Missouri.

Justice Department officials contend that the indictments are not part of a nationwide review of police brutality after the King controversy.

The case against the deputies is being handled by the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department in Washington. But Carole Levitzky, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said she could not provide further details.

“We don’t discuss the nature of the investigations. The FBI is the investigative agency on civil rights violations, and they have referred this back to Washington,” she said.

Levitzky said the deputies are scheduled to be arraigned March 9.

The Sheriff’s Department declined comment on the indictment.

“The indictment handed down today has not been reviewed by the Sheriff’s Department, therefore it is premature to issue a comment at this time,” said Lt. Jeff Springs, a department spokesman.