PASADENA : LAPD Officer Pleads No Contest to Battery

A Los Angeles police officer pleaded no contest Wednesday to a felony charge for an off-duty incident in which he allegedly rammed an Altadena man’s truck with his car, then beat up the driver.

Fred Dahl, 49, entered his plea to battery with serious bodily injury. Because he has no prior criminal record, Dahl was sentenced under the misdemeanor section of the law to 12 days in jail, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Walt Lewis. Dahl, who received credit for two days he spent behind bars after his arrest, was also ordered to pay $8,129 in restitution to Hang Ba Mai and to give up his right to possess a weapon for 10 years, the prosecutor said.

As a result, Dahl will probably be forced to resign from the police force, Lewis said.

According to police reports, the off-duty officer repeatedly rammed into Mai’s truck at a stop sign on North Allen Avenue in Pasadena in October. When the drivers got out of their vehicles, Dahl grabbed Mai, 40, and punched him in the face before driving away, the prosecutor said.

Someone took down the license plate number of Dahl’s car and police arrested him a short time later. Neither Dahl or Mai told officers the cause of their dispute, Lewis said.

Dahl was charged with one felony count each of assault with a deadly weapon and making a terrorist threat and single misdemeanor counts of battery and hit-and-run driving.

But the complaint was amended before a preliminary hearing to include the battery charge to which he entered his no-contest plea, Lewis said.