Deputies Deny They Rousted Monkees Crowd

Orange County sheriff’s deputies contend they did nothing wrong when they forced members of the Monkees and their followers to leave the Doheny State Park venue after the band’s performance.

Deputies said they approached David Fiumano, the Monkees’ tour manager, to clear the park “in a polite fashion” after the Sept. 13 concert, said sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Ron Wilkerson. But, he said, the manager ignored the deputy and walked away.

“They needed to be out of there by 10 [p.m.],” Wilkerson said. “By 10:30 [p.m.], a group of between 50 to 75 people were still backstage. . . . There was no riot gear, no clubs. They asked everyone to leave.”

In an interview earlier this week, Fiumano insisted the group cooperated with authorities.

Earlier this month, singers Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork of the Monkees wrote a letter to Sheriff Brad Gates to complain that deputies arrested one teenage girl for not moving fast enough, shoved a disabled man, refused to help a mother searching for her two young children, and cursed Fiumano and threatened him with arrest.

The band called the deputies’ actions “unnecessary, overzealous and irrational,” according to the letter dated Oct. 20.

But the Sheriff’s Department disputed those claims. In addressing some of the specific allegations, Wilkerson said the disabled man was escorted, not shoved, to a safe place, and deputies did not use profanities when talking to Fiumano.

“Two female adults were cited and released,” Wilkerson said. “Both were refusing to leave . . . despite numerous warnings.”

The Monkees had a hit television show and several No. 1 singles and albums in the 1960s. They headlined the Sept. 13 concert that raised money for the San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation.