SIMI VALLEY : Suit Accuses Police of Beating Man

A Simi Valley man filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city’s Police Department, charging that officers beat him and falsely arrested him following a traffic stop in January.

The suit claims that 36-year-old Gary Wilson Scott was stopped Jan. 2 on suspicion of drunk driving near his Heywood Street condominium.

After passing field-sobriety tests, Scott was arrested by Officer Matthew P. McCord, who noticed that Scott did not have a front license plate on his car, the lawsuit said.

During the arrest, Scott was thrown to the ground and sprayed in the face with Mace, according to his suit. It accuses the officers of “hog tying” and choking Scott, who allegedly suffered injuries to his head, neck, upper extremities and “psyche.”

Scott was charged with resisting arrest, obstruction of justice and driving on a suspended license, but the charges were later dropped, the suit states. Scott was not charged with failing to have a front license plate on his car.

The suit names as defendants the city, McCord, Chief Willard R. Schlieter and former Chief Lindsey Paul Miller, who is now a city councilman.

The department spokesman was not immediately available for comment.