Ex-Deputy’s Harassment Claim Dismissed : Courts: Phase 1 of a two-part trial ends when judge rules offensive remarks directed at black officer did not violate civil rights law.

A black former Ventura County deputy lost a court battle Thursday in Los Angeles when a federal judge dismissed claims against two white deputies in a lawsuit alleging that racial harassment in the Sheriff’s Department forced him to resign in 1990.

U. S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima ruled that attorneys for Greg Jones, 31, had failed to prove that racially charged remarks by white deputies at the East County Sheriff’s Station in Thousand Oaks created a work environment that was so hostile that Jones had no choice but to quit.

Jones, hired in 1986, had testified that Senior Deputy Larry Logan several times welcomed him to pre-patrol briefings with the remark, “What are you doing here? These are KKK meetings.”

He also testified that Logan referred to one area of eastern Ventura County as “coon lagoon,” and that Sgt. Cole McDaniel kept calling him “Mr. Brown.” Logan testified he never made the comments attributed to him, and McDaniel testified that he called Jones “Mr. Brown” as a term of endearment.

Tashima ruled that the remarks, while offensive, did not violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and thus the deputies were not liable for civil damages on grounds of racial discrimination.

“I’m not condoning racially offensive comments, but the Constitution does not prohibit racially offensive comments,” Tashima said in granting a dismissal motion filed by attorneys for Logan and McDaniel. “That would be a First Amendment right, however reprehensible that is.”

Tashima then dismissed the six jurors who had listened to three days of testimony by Jones and his former colleagues, ending the first phase of a two-part trial.

The second phase--a trial of similar complaints in the lawsuit that former Sheriff John V. Gillespie and the county itself allowed such an atmosphere to exist--is scheduled to begin May 24 with a fresh jury.

In that phase, Jones’ attorney David Duchrow said he plans to call 11 of the county’s 14 black deputies to testify that Gillespie and the county allowed a pattern of racism to exist in the entire Sheriff’s Department, not just the East County Sheriff’s Station.

The 11 black deputies--working in a force of 595 sworn officers--filed a $7.5-million discrimination claim against the department in March, 1991. The claim alleges that blacks were discriminated against in hiring, promotions, salaries, performance evaluations and other personnel matters. It named more than 60 officers as having taken part in racist actions or remarks, ranging from racial slurs to a death threat.

Both parties have agreed to let an outside consultant investigate the department’s hiring practices and complaint-review process, the claimants’ attorney, Bert Voorhees III, said Thursday. The report is due “any time now,” he said.

“We expect some fairly sweeping changes in the department as a result of this,” Voorhees said. “When you have about 80% to 90% of one group saying that they got screwed, you know you have a problem.”

However, county litigation coordinator Frank Sieh said the consultant may find that no changes in the department are necessary. “If we find they haven’t been damaged, we don’t give away any public money,” he said.

In the second phase of the trial, Duchrow said he will seek to prove that tolerance by Gillespie and his department of a pattern of racism forced Jones to resign.

However, while Jones’ attorney said that racism forced Jones to quit, defense attorneys said Jones resigned because he was forced to undergo retraining after he struck a plainclothes deputy in the head with his baton while trying to control an unruly crowd at a July 1, 1989, wedding reception in Moorpark.

Duchrow said that following the incident, Jones’ superiors ordered him to be examined by the sheriff’s psychologist and to undergo baton retraining--an order that Jones testified was not given to two white uniformed deputies who also struck plainclothes deputies in the melee.

Jones appealed the retraining order to the Civil Service Commission. A county affirmative action investigator determined that the department was justified in retraining Jones, but added that department supervisors needed sensitivity instruction.

Jones later submitted letters to his superiors in April and May, 1990, complaining of anxiety disorders he said were caused by the discrimination, and was then stripped of his police powers on May 11, Duchrow said.

He quit Sept. 20, 1990.

“He quit because he realized that being . . . sent for retraining was something the department had for deputies who had complained of racial harassment,” Duchrow said.

But defense attorney David Epstein said: “He quit the department because he was disciplined for hitting another officer on the head with his baton, and he does not like discipline.”

Logan praised Tashima’s decision to drop the claims against him and McDaniel, calling it “the appropriate decision.”

Jones, now a claims examiner for a Ventura County health insurance firm, did not comment.

Times staff writer Peggy Y. Lee contributed to this story.