Huntington Beach PD: Bang-Up Job or a Bust?

Police arrested more than 500 Fourth of July revelers in a massive show of force that drew thank-you calls Friday from some residents and angry complaints from others who said the cops went too far in quelling potential trouble.

Police said about 90% of those arrested were booked into crowded city jail cells on charges of public drunkenness or drinking in public under a municipal code section that officers applied to some revelers drinking beers on their own front porches and yards.

Among them was Gary Guenther, 28, who said he was arrested on the sidewalk outside his 19th Street home while sipping a beer and helping neighbors set up a Ping-Pong table at 1:45 p.m Thursday. His wife Colleen, a pediatric nurse, said she was arrested for holding a near-empty beer bottle she had taken from a guest as she stood in the front yard.

“We just got arrested for having the alcohol out in public view,” said Gary Guenther, who works in construction and spent the night in jail. “We’re not the kind who cause trouble. I own my house. I pay taxes. We think what the police were doing was great, but I think they went overboard.”

Lt. Dan Johnson, the department’s spokesman, declined to comment on specific arrests, but said people who believe their rights were violated should file a complaint with the department.

He said police took a zero-tolerance approach to avoid the drunken melees that have led to violence on recent Independence Day celebrations in the city.

“We felt that if we took action early and set the tone early and said we weren’t going to tolerate any drinking in public or any violation of law at all, that would prevent problems later on,” Johnson said. “And it did.

“Our experience was the thing builds up and the parties get bigger and the people get more intoxicated and eventually we end up with a riotous situation.”

In years past, rowdy street parties, youthful revelers pelting officers with rocks and bottles, and drunken mobs who set sofas ablaze in the street have become troubling holiday rituals in Huntington Beach, and police have struggled to find an enforcement tactic that works. Efforts have included the use of batons and fire hoses to disperse revelers in 1994, to a plea last year for downtown businesses to close early.

On Thursday, city officials barricaded a 100-square-block area to traffic as more than 200 officers patrolled the streets. There were no major disturbances.

Johnson said more than 30 people had called the Police Department by midday Friday to congratulate officers on the approach and thank them for making the holiday safe.

Friday, the city had returned to normal, with no visible reminders of the holiday tension. Shoppers browsed at the weekly farmers market downtown, holding bouquets of flowers and bags of fruit. In previous years, residents awoke to find their lawns trampled and streets trash-strewn.

“The Police Department did an excellent job,” said Loretta Wolfe, co-chairwoman of the Downtown Residents Assn., which represents 350 members.

“This is a turnaround, majorly, for Huntington Beach. We’re returned to families and friends and doing the normal things we should be doing on the Fourth of July. The police just said, ‘This is it.’

“If people are paying attention, and know the law . . . you can’t take a beer out on the sidewalk,” Wolfe said. “It all starts with one or two people on the sidewalk, and it ends up as 50 or so on the street if you let it go. Zero tolerance, I think, has done the trick.”

Mayor Dave Sullivan said he was happy with the city’s effort. “I’d say the plans worked well, and we sent the message that anyone who comes to Huntington Beach on July 4th and breaks the law will be arrested.”

Others questioned the legality of arresting people for drinking on private property.

Ron Talmo, a civil attorney and law professor at Western State University, called the city’s interpretation of drinking in public “a stupid distinction by a hostile police force.”

A state appellate court has ruled that only the state--not cities--can regulate drinking, he said. In addition, Talmo said, there’s a legal difference between drinking and being drunk.

“The difference is huge,” Talmo said. “ ‘In public’ means different things in different statutes and it has to do with the purpose of the statute. What is Huntington Beach’s purpose? These people were doing what we want them to do, which is to stay at home.”

Mary Broderick, executive director of the Los Angeles-based California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, said she also found the tactic troubling.

“It’s not illegal to drink in your own home,” Broderick said. “Certainly they couldn’t go into your house to arrest you if you were drinking.

“I’m not sure if I understand the distinction or if there is a constitutionally valid distinction between drinking in your home and drinking in your front yard.”

In neighboring Newport Beach, 200 police officers on duty Thursday to handle holiday crowds arrested 70 adults and 11 juveniles. Newport Beach Lt. Doug Fletcher said that city interprets its municipal code to allow drinking-in-public arrests only if the suspect is standing on public property.

But Johnson of Huntington Beach said the department researched the law and instructed officers on how to proceed based on a 1979 state court decision involving a man who was drunk on his own porch.

“The interpretation is very simple: If the property is readily accessible to the public, that’s a lawful arrest for public intoxication” or drinking in public, Johnson said. “On the other hand, if you have a front yard that’s fenced or gated or hedged, then that would not be a lawful arrest.”

Several people who emerged haggard from the city jail Friday said they thought police had gone too far to ensure calm.

Huntington Beach resident Scott Bruza said officers slammed him against a van, pointed a rifle at him and arrested him while he was walking to a corner store to buy napkins for a family fireworks party. Bruza, a 34-year-old set decorator for Warner Bros., said his only crime was walking past a boisterous party when a police van pulled up.

“I was really appalled by what I saw all night,” said Bruza, who said he was detained for 14 hours on a charge of disobeying a police officer. “You can’t treat people like dogs, and that’s what these cops did. People were arrested just for asking questions or roller-blading.

“I’m quite the non-troublemaker and I had a rifle pointed at me.”

While in custody, Bruza said he saw people with their hands turning blue from the plastic bindings used to cuff them. Bruza said he could not feel his thumbs Friday morning from overly tight bindings, but he never complained to officers. He said he saw one officer spray a young man who complained with Mace and then ask “How do you feel now?”

For others, the night turned into a costly inconvenience.

George Sudol and three friends drove from San Jose after hearing about the city’s Fourth of July festivities. Sudol said the group had a few drinks at a local bar and went to see the fireworks, but were soon caught in a crowd, listening to an officer yell something indecipherable through a bullhorn.

The group was arrested in the middle of the street for failing to disperse and spent the night in jail as their $250 room at the Waterfront Hilton sat empty. The men had checked in and taken quick showers before stepping out.

“It was a $65 shower,” said Sudol, 25, of Sunnyvale. “Obviously this whole thing was against the youth. . . . I lost my whole July 4th spirit.”

Jay Walker, 21, said he was walking home about 10:30 p.m. when somebody threw a swirling firecracker his way. It skidded in front of him, Walker said, so he kicked it out of the way and was suddenly surrounded by officers.

Walker said the officers searched his backpack for fireworks and didn’t find any, but arrested him for possessing them anyway.

“I don’t know if I should plead guilty. It might be easier,” he said. “It’s their word against mine. I guess I did kick it.”

Colleen Guenther said her arrest in front of neighbors and guests deeply embarrassed her. Compounding the situation, she said, a male officer accompanied her to a jail restroom after she had been in custody for about three hours and kept an eye on her the entire time.

“I really wanted them to do something to cut down on all these kids getting out of control on the Fourth, but I don’t think degrading and humiliating people in the process is acceptable,” she said.

Mayor Sullivan said it was too early to determine whether the city would make any changes to its Fourth of July enforcement next year, but he suggested that the 1997 police presence wouldn’t be much different. The Police Department will present a report to the City Council on the effectiveness of this year’s efforts and recommendations for next year, he said.

Michele Turner, one of the grand marshals for the city’s Fourth of July parade, said Huntington Beach police can’t escape criticism.

“Either way, they get in trouble,” said Turner, co-owner of the Sugar Shack restaurant in Huntington Beach. “If they didn’t have a lot [of officers], and if something happened . . . and if they did have enough, people say it’s too much.”

Other merchants said that the holiday went so smoothly that police should consider doing away with barricades that kept downtown closed to traffic.

“It doesn’t help the merchants out,” said Steve Daniel, president of the Downtown Business Assn. and owner of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, where business was a little slow because of the barricades.

“For the Fourth of July, businesses cooperated the last couple of years. We’re hoping that it’ll get back under hand, and we’ll be like any other city. . . . It doesn’t need to be a war zone.”

Also contributing to this report were Times staff writer Geoff Boucher and correspondent Jeff Kass.

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Force on the Fourth

Police were out in droves this Fourth of July, a holiday that has drawn big crowds of sometimes rowdy revelers to Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. This year, police vowed to take aggressive action against lawbreakers.

HUNTINGTON BEACH

* 1996 Arrests: More than 500.

* Type of arrests: 90% for public intoxication or drinking in public; about half a dozen felony arrests.

* The force: More than 200 officers.

* Outcome: No significant injuries. No deaths. No major property damage.

Comparison with past years:

* 1995: 104 arrests; one man shot to death; two stabbings in a fight; seven police cars damaged by bottles and bricks.

* 1994: 150 arrests; police officers pelted with rocks, bottles and lit fireworks. Disturbances included the burning of furniture in the streets.

NEWPORT BEACH

* 1996 Arrests: More than 80 arrests, compared with about 40 in 1995.

* Type of arrests: Majority were alcohol-related; seven felony arrests.

* The force: About 200 officers.

Source: Huntington Beach police, Newport Beach police and Times reports.