Monkees Say O.C. Deputies Bullied Fan

The Monkees, whose corny one-liners and zany pranks made them famous in 1960s pop music, are alleging that Orange County sheriff’s deputies roughed up a fan and several members of their entourage after a recent concert.

Singers Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork claimed they were waiting for a ride back to their hotel after a Sept. 13 concert at Doheny State Park when at least a dozen deputies who wanted the group to leave the park “formed a riot line and advanced on us,” according to a letter the singers wrote Oct. 20 to Sheriff Brad Gates.

Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Ron Wilkerson said department officials could not comment because they haven’t seen the letter.

“We believe this unnecessary, overzealous, irrational and utterly unprovoked show of force and the profane, arrogant and bullying demeanor of its command reflects badly upon the Orange County Sheriff’s Department,” band members wrote.

David Fiumano, tour manager for the band, said he offered to speed the group’s departure, but deputies responded by threatening to arrest Fiumano, according to the letter, which ends with Dolenz’s and Tork’s names.

Fiumano and the group’s manager, Ward Sylvester, said that, during the incident a teenage fan waiting for an autograph was needlessly handcuffed, arrested and later released.

A disabled man, the father of the band’s saxophonist, was using crutches that evening when deputies shoved him aside, and a mother whose two young children had been lost backstage was told to go look for the children outside the park, Fiumano added.

“What kind of comment is that to make to a mother who was not able to locate her kids, and it was 10 o’clock in the evening?” Fiumano said.

The two band managers confirmed that Dolenz and Tork had sent the letter, but neither Monkee was available for comment.

The Monkees, who had a hit television show in the 1960s and several successful songs including “Last Train to Clarksville,” headlined the benefit concert that raised money for the San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation.