San Gabriel Valley : Suit Says Deputy Put Gun in Youth’s Ear

A former La Puente high school student has filed an $18-million lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, alleging that a deputy stuck a loaded gun in his ear and then pulled the trigger. The weapon did not discharge and the student was uninjured.

Deputy Edward Teel, 41, resigned his post in March at the sheriff’s City of Industry substation as part of a no contest plea to a criminal charge related to misuse of authority. Teel, a 13-year veteran, was given a one-year suspended jail sentence, three years probation and ordered to pay $200 in restitution. He also was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and seek counseling.

The October, 1993, incident allegedly occurred when Teel and another deputy tried to break up a gathering of teen-agers in a parking lot at Allen J. Martin Park in La Puente, according to the lawsuit filed by Daniel Silva, then 16. According to the suit, the deputies stopped a car in which Silva and two other students were riding as it pulled away. After searching the car, Teel stuck the gun in Silva’s ear, according to the suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court.

A prosecutor familiar with the case said Teel pointed the gun at the teen-ager, but it was unclear whether the deputy put it in the youth’s ear or pulled the trigger.

Silva, now a student at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, could not be reached for comment.

Teel also could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Jay Jaffe, said the “trigger was not pulled. That did not happen.”