Suit Alleges Deputies to Blame in Party-Goer’s Death

The parents of Nicholas James Dowey, the 21-year-old man who died from massive head wounds he suffered at a raucous party, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department charging that deputies caused his death.

The suit, which seeks $325 million in damages, alleges that deputies violated Dowey’s civil rights by using excessive force in subduing him and denying him medical attention.

The suit names Sheriff Larry Carpenter, Capt. James E. Barrett and 10 unidentified deputies as defendants.

“The purpose [of the suit] is to bring this to someone’s attention,” said Richard Hamlish, the attorney for the plaintiffs. “We want to make sure someone pokes their head out of the sand to say, ‘We don’t allow this type of conduct.’ ”

Dowey was fatally injured during a wild party on St. Thomas Drive in Meiners Oaks on Sept. 12. Witnesses have said the Ventura man was hit in the head with either a baseball bat or club by an unknown assailant.

When deputies arrived at the party, they were led to Dowey, who was gushing blood from a head wound.

Several people at the party have said publicly that after Dowey was injured, he staggered out of the party and during a struggle with deputies was allegedly sprayed with pepper spray and struck in the head with a metal flashlight. He died a day later.

The lawsuit alleges that Dowey “died as a result of the wounds to his head administered by [a deputy who] hit Dowey with his flashlight.”

The lawsuit goes on to say that deputies who arrived on the scene seemed more interested in getting information out of Dowey than in helping him, even though he was “bleeding profusely from his head.”

“[The deputies] did nothing to administer medical aid to Dowey or did not do anything to affect the taking of Dowey to the hospital for his injuries,” the lawsuit says.

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At one point, Dowey then began to yell at deputies to leave him alone or take him to the hospital, according to the suit. Dowey then broke away from deputies and began running to his friend’s car for a ride to the hospital, the suit says.

Deputies chased him and forced him to the ground. They then “hogtied and handcuffed Dowey who was still bleeding from a head wound.”

When Dowey kept yelling at the officers to let his friends take him to the hospital, a deputy used Mace on him. He also accidentally sprayed one of his colleagues, the lawsuit says.

“The fellow deputy who had been inadvertently Maced, then took out his black metal flashlight and hit Dowey at least three times in the head,” the lawsuit states. “Dowey sunk to the ground unconscious; Dowey never regained consciousness again.”

“You’ve got a police officer coming to the scene of an injured person, and instead of administering medical aid, when they tell him he wants to go to a hospital they beat him, and they kill him,” Hamlish said. “You’ve got assault, failure to train, battery, wrongful death. They all fit. It’s like a puzzle.”

The suit also alleges that the Sheriff’s Department failed to train its officers correctly.

The lawsuit adds that an autopsy was performed on Dowey, but the Ventura County medical examiner has so far refused to provide the family with the results.

Capt. Bill Montijo, who works in the major crimes unit at the Sheriff’s Department, said Tuesday that the investigation is continuing.

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“We’ve interviewed over 75 people,” he said. “We have yet to have someone provide the information that is necessary to make an arrest. We know there are witnesses out there who are reluctant to come forward.”

Montijo added that they continue to get calls on a daily basis, and they are pursuing every lead.

County Counsel Noel Klebaum said he had not yet seen the lawsuit, but that the case would be referred to a private law firm to represent the county.