Controversial LAPD Unit Meant to Kill Suspect, Suit Says

A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed Monday against 13 members of a controversial Los Angeles Police Department unit, accusing them of trying to kill a man they had tailed and allowed to rob a liquor store in Newbury Park last year.

Attorneys Stephen Yagman of Venice and Richard H. Milliard of Los Angeles accused the officers of shooting Robert Cunningham with shotguns and handguns with the intent of killing him on June 26, 1995.

The suit alleges that the officers, members of the LAPD’s Special Investigations Section (SIS), would have blown off Cunnnigham’s head with a shotgun blast but for the intervention of a captain from a nearby fire station.

The suit asks for compensatory and punitive damages and other relief. Perhaps most significantly, the suit asks U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts to issue an injunction prohibiting the SIS from continuing its practice of following suspects, allowing them to commit crimes, “then to murder them.”

The suit also contends that in the Newbury Park incident, SIS squad members, “in their unbridled lust,” even shot one another. (One of the officers underwent surgery for a bullet that hit his abdomen below his bulletproof vest, tore through his bladder and exited through his back. Another officer underwent surgery to remove shrapnel that pierced his abdomen after a bullet splattered against his vest.)

Cunningham, now 32, is incarcerated in Ventura County, awaiting trial on state charges of robbery and murder. Daniel Soly, Cunningham’s confederate in the robbery, was killed by the officers during the gun battle after the two men held up the South West Liquor and Deli, according to the suit.

Monday’s suit marks the latest controversy involving the SIS. A 1988 investigation by The Times revealed that the 19-member unit often followed violent criminals but did not arrest them until after the suspects committed robberies or burglaries--frequently leaving victims terrorized or injured.

Los Angeles Police Department records showed that between 1966 and 1988 SIS officers killed 23 suspects and wounded 23 others. “By 1992, SIS’ totals had increased to 28 dead and 27 wounded in 45 separate shooting incidents,” according to “Above the Law,” a book about officers’ excessive use of force by professors Jerome H. Skolnick of UC Berkeley and James J. Fyfe of Temple University. Yagman attached to his brief 20 pages of the book describing incidents involving SIS officers.

“This is the fifth case I have brought against the ‘death squad,’ ” Yagman said in an interview. “This is the first case in which we have asked that it be disbanded or taken control of so that it no longer murders at the end of its surveillance the people whom it has under surveillance. Previously, we only requested damages.”

Despite the controversy over the unit’s activities, there has been no change in SIS’ mode of operations, according to Commander Tim McBride, spokesman for the LAPD.

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“In essence, it’s the same as it’s always been,” McBride said. “They are a group of highly trained, highly competent individuals who specialize in saving lives. They follow desperate, armed criminals and routinely make arrests without incident.”

“Over the last eight years, they’ve been involved in less than one shooting per year, but of course Mr. Yagman would like for everyone to ignore the wonderful work they do and the people’s lives that they save. I’m restrained by the city attorney’s office from commenting on the specific allegations. The legal processes will have to take their course.”

McBride said that none of the prior SIS shootings had been ruled “out of policy” by LAPD officials. He said that the department’s internal review of the Ventura County shooting has not been completed.

According to the suit:

* The officers followed the robbery suspects across the Ventura County line and permitted them to rob a convenience store.

* After the robbers reentered their car, the officers prevented them from fleeing by car by ramming their cars into the robber’s vehicle.

* “They then, without announcing themselves as police, [fired] approximately 15 shotgun blasts and shots from handguns, all with the intent of taking the law into their own hands and murdering the occupants of the automobile.”

* The officers shot Soly to death and would have killed Cunningham but for the fire captain’s intervention.

The day after the incident, Lt. Larry Robertson of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department said that Soly was at the wheel when the shooting began but that it was not clear whether he drew his gun or pointed it at the officers before he was shot to death. Robertson said that SIS officers had told investigators that Cunningham popped up through the car’s sunroof to shoot at them with a .357 magnum revolver before they returned fire.

Monday’s suit also contends that the officers in this case and other SIS members “have engaged in precisely the same conduct before,” resulting in the deaths of three men and the serious wounding of a fourth in separate incidents.

In a 1992 case involving several of the same officers who were sued Monday, Yagman convinced a federal jury that SIS members had wrongfully shot three robbers to death in 1990 after they held up a McDonald’s restaurant in Sunland. Despite the fact that the shooting was ruled “in policy” by an internal LAPD review, the jury awarded punitive damages of $44,042 against nine members of the SIS and then-Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, who was deemed ultimately responsible for their conduct.

Yagman said that 12 of the 13 officers involved in the current case were defendants in the McDonald’s case and that punitive damages were awarded against five of the 12--Joseph Callian, John Helms, Richard Spellman, James Tippings and Richard Zierenberg. The other SIS officers named as defendants in this case are Brian Davis, Joseph Freia, Edward Guiza, James Harris, John Tortorici, Lawrence Winston, Philip Wixon and Gary Zerbe.

The suit also names as defendants a number of current and former city officials who allegedly have condoned SIS practices.