INGLEWOOD : City OKs $150,000 Settlement of Suit

The City Council unanimously approved a $150,000 settlement in a case where police officers beat and injured a man they mistook for an auto theft suspect.

The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by Victor Mansour of Monterey Park, who claimed his civil rights were violated when he was beaten with batons by Inglewood police officers, said Gary Casselman, Mansour’s attorney.

“They got the wrong guy and there was no justification for beating him,” Casselman said. Mansour suffered a fractured sinus bone, bruises and a head wound that required five metal staples during the early morning incident Aug. 15, 1992.

While pursuing two African American suspects, police officers found Mansour, a white man, hiding in the bushes near Market Street and Florence Avenue. Mansour, 40, who has a learning disability and is manic-depressive, had gone to sleep in the bushes after he became lost and scared, Casselman said.

Mansour refused to cooperate with police and eventually came after the officers with his arms flailing, said City Atty. Howard Rosten. They thought he was the suspect, Rosten said, explaining that it was dark and the man had facial hair.

“It’s been a terrible misunderstanding,” he said.

Police Chief Oliver Thompson, who was named in the suit along with four police officers, said the officers acted properly in the situation because Mansour did not follow the officers’ directions.

“We did an administrative investigation and found no criminal wrongdoing on the part of the officers,” Thompson said. A grand jury and the district attorney came to the same conclusion, Rosten said. The four officers were placed on administrative leave during the investigation but all are on active duty again.

The council decided to settle the case out of court rather than face a costly trial, Rosten said.