TORRANCE : 2 Teen-Agers File Civil Rights Suit Against City

Two South Bay teen-agers have brought a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Torrance, claiming they were kicked, beaten, taunted and falsely arrested and were called a racial epithet by two Torrance police officers.

Michael Juarez, 15, of Torrance, and Hector Loza, 15, of Lawndale, were sitting on a curb near Juarez’s home on Sept. 9, 1994, when the officers began harassing them, said their attorney, Patrick H. Hough of El Segundo. One officer hit Juarez with a communications radio and the other officer kicked Loza in the groin, he said. The youths were arrested for allegedly interfering with an officer and were further harassed but no charges were ever filed, Hough said.

The lawsuit, filed last week, claims that the city has enforced and tolerated a policy of “detaining and arresting Hispanic youths without reasonable suspicion or probable cause.”

Hough said he has been questioned about the incident by two attorneys from the U.S. Justice Department, which is suing Torrance for alleged racial bias in its hiring practices for the Police and Fire departments.

Torrance City Atty. John L. Fellows said Monday that he had not received the lawsuit and could not comment on it. However, he added that four police excessive-force cases against Torrance have gone to trial in recent months and “the city has prevailed in all four of them.”