Brothers Win $104,000 in Suit Against Huntington Beach Police

A jury awarded $104,000 Thursday to two brothers who a judge ruled were illegally detained by three Huntington Beach police officers.

The award came after Orange County Superior Court Judge Logan Moore took the unusual step of issuing a directed verdict in favor of Roberto Ayala Garcia, 38, and his brother Miguel, 30. The judge then asked jurors to decide how much money the Garcias should receive in damages.

The brothers accused the officers of pointing pistols at them before handcuffing and assaulting them outside their apartment in 1988. The officers had come to retrieve a woman’s belongings from the home, and the Garcias were not charged with a crime.

The jury’s foreman, Larry Hamlin, said Thursday night that most jurors considered the officers’ actions “absolutely outrageous.”

“They used Gestapo tactics against these guys,” Hamlin said.

Huntington Beach Mayor Linda Moulton-Patterson said she was surprised by the award. She defended the officers involved, saying they had gone to assist in “a domestic violence situation where a woman was in danger.” The mayor said the city had not decided whether to appeal.

The brothers sued the city and officers Thomas Trembley, Steven Overcast and Raymond Villescas after the incident at the Garcias’ apartment on Beach Boulevard.

According to the suit, the brothers allowed a woman who had been romantically involved with Roberto Garcia into their home on June 16, 1988, to retrieve clothes. Later that day, the woman called police to report that Roberto Garcia was dealing drugs and kept guns in the apartment, the suit said.

Still later, the woman met the three police officers outside the apartment, and a police employee telephoned the Garcias and ordered Roberto to step outside, the suit said. When he went to the front door, he saw the three officers pointing pistols at him and was handcuffed and searched outside, the suit said.

The officers had Roberto call for his brother, who was searched and handcuffed when he came outside, the suit said. The Garcias were placed on the ground while the officers went into the apartment with the woman and conducted a search, according to the suit. The officers left after removing the handcuffs, the suit said.