Officer Convicted of Abuse in 1986 Beating of Youth : Trial: Federal court jury finds that youth’s civil rights were violated. Victim’s skull was fractured after he was struck with a baton.

A Los Angeles police officer was convicted in U.S. District Court on Monday of criminal civil rights violations stemming from a 1986 arrest during which he allegedly fractured a Panorama City teen-ager’s skull during a beating.

Officer Dana Patrick Hansen, assigned to the elite Metropolitan Division, was found guilty of using excessive force and unlawfully arresting the youth.

Hansen was charged with striking, kicking, beating and assaulting Jesus Martinez Vidales, now 21, after pulling him from beneath a parked truck, and then illegally arresting him for battery on a police officer.

Michael J. Gennaco, the U.S. Department of Justice attorney who prosecuted Hansen, said the officer and his partner, Alan Sorkness, were investigating a car that looked suspicious in the 14600 block of Blythe Street on Aug. 26, 1986.

Martinez Vidales ran from the officers and attempted to hide beneath a parked ice cream truck. Witnesses testified during the seven-day trial that the officers pulled Martinez Vidales from beneath the truck, and that Hansen struck him several times with his baton.

The young man was hospitalized for three weeks with a fractured skull, Gennaco said. Witnesses said they heard Martinez Vidales screaming from the baton blows. They said he was attempting to cover himself and ward off the blows, and was not resisting.

Last November, Martinez Vidales won a “decent” settlement from the city as a result of the incident, said his lawyer, Steve Rein. He would not disclose the amount.

After Monday’s jury verdict, Hansen’s attorney, Carol Rohr, said she will file motions seeking a new trial and a verdict of acquittal despite the jury’s decision. She also said that Hansen, who remains on duty, will appeal the verdict.

“It’s a difficult hurdle,” she said of the appeal, but “we feel we have grounds.” She said she could not elaborate because she has not completed a review of the trial proceedings.

Sorkness, who has since been promoted to sergeant, was not charged in the incident.

Just over a year after the incident, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office decided not to file criminal charges against Hansen, saying there was insufficient evidence to prove a crime occurred.

The federal misdemeanor charges against Hansen were filed July 9, the same day the Christopher Commission issued its report criticizing the Police Department for excessive use of force, racial bias and inadequate discipline for officers found to have engaged in such conduct.

Hansen faces a maximum of two years in prison and a $200,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie set sentencing for April 20.

The next day, the officer is scheduled to go on trial in a second case of criminal civil rights violations stemming from a separate incident in 1988 alleging excessive use of force, the prosecutor said.

Gennaco said the statute under which Hansen was charged was changed to a felony in November, 1988, and that if the officer were charged under the new law, he would face stiffer penalties.

In 1986, a Superior Court jury awarded a Van Nuys woman $112,000 after determining that she had been illegally beaten by Hansen and another officer after she was arrested for investigation of drunk driving.

In 1983, Hansen shot and killed a 15-year-old boy who was allegedly pointing a sawed-off shotgun at a group of youngsters. The district attorney’s office concluded in that incident that “deadly force was clearly reasonable.”