FBI Investigates Police in Huntington Beach : Government: The probe follows civil rights complaints that officers reacted with abusive force during rowdy Fourth of July festivities.

The FBI is investigating civil rights complaints about police conduct during an unruly Fourth of July celebration, a bureau official said Wednesday.

Donald Kelly, supervising agent for civil rights in the FBI’s Santa Ana bureau, said his office three weeks ago began investigating the Police Department’s handling of the July 4 melee that occurred downtown.

“We don’t know how long it will take,” Kelly said, adding the Justice Department will decide whether to broaden the preliminary investigation.

Police and city officials defended the department’s actions, in which police dealt with revelers who burned furniture in the streets and also hurled firecrackers, bottles and rocks at officers and passing cars.

More than 50 people were arrested in the downtown area during the last two days of the long weekend. Citywide, 139 arrests were made for a variety of offenses, including public drunkenness, resisting arrest and failure to disperse.

Several of those arrested claimed police beat and roughed them up during the melee.

“The police were more out of control than the crowd,” said Michael Brian Fitzgerald, a 40-year-old software engineer who was cited for failing to disperse.

“They seemed to be the people looking for trouble,” Fitzgerald said after being released from jail in July. He said he was running down an alley to escape the mayhem when he was cornered by five officers with batons who threw him to the ground and struck him several times.

David Long, a 23-year-old Huntington Beach resident, said he was caught in a crowd that was igniting fireworks in the streets and an officer struck him twice in the legs with a billy club.

FBI spokesman John Hoos said a preliminary investigation was requested by the Justice Department. Results of that investigation will be sent to the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, as well as to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. “They will decide whether the FBI will continue to a full investigation into this,” he said.

Hoos said news reports about the alleged civil rights violations prompted the Justice Department to call for the investigation.

Huntington Beach City Councilman Ralph Bauer, who was downtown on the Fourth of July, said what he saw was “police keeping order.”

“People were setting fires in the middle of 11th and Orange, people were setting off fireworks, it was frankly, a lawless crowd,” he said, adding that police did their job to “keep the peace.”

Bauer said downtown residents were frightened about the large crowds of youths and the fires.

“It was our objective to make people feel safe in their homes,” Bauer said.

Bauer said the city does not think the investigation is “going to come to much, but if we’ve done something wrong, I’m sure we will correct it.”

Another council member, David Sullivan, welcomed the investigation, saying it “should clear the air.”

“We don’t really know anything about the FBI investigation,” said Police Lt. Chuck Poe. “We got a courtesy call from them two or three weeks ago. That’s all we know about it.”

Earlier, Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg said his officers acted “quickly and decisively” in keeping down injuries and property damage, in contrast to earlier holidays when matters got out of control.

Police have received seven civilian complaints, Poe said. In four of those cases, he said, there was not enough information to evaluate their merits. In two of the cases, the police found the charges unfounded, and one case has yet to be decided.