City to Deny Liability for Deadly Chase

Fountain Valley officials will ask a Superior Court judge next week to dismiss the city as a defendant in a $25-million wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of boxer Ernie Magdaleno, killed during a high-speed police chase.

City authorities, including police, have denied any responsibility in the death of Magdaleno, who died Dec. 31, 1995, when a car burglary suspect being chased by Police Officer Trung Nguyen ran a red light and slammed into Magdaleno’s Jeep Cherokee.

Magdaleno, then 33 and a contender for the World Boxing Council light-heavyweight title, was thrown out of his car and struck his head on a traffic island. His wife and two children, who filed the lawsuit, were hospitalized and have recovered.

Nguyen was chasing a Ford Escort driven by John Kenneth Bandola, a Cypress resident. Bandola, 19, and his passenger, Dawn Marie Kazanecki, 22, were suspects in a foiled attempt to steal camera equipment from a car, police said.

*

The chase began in Fountain Valley and reached speeds of 100 mph until it ended at Edinger Avenue and Newland Street in Huntington Beach. Witnesses said the Fountain Valley police cruiser had its flashing lights on but not its siren during the chase. Both Bandola and Magdaleno died at the scene. Kazanecki survived the crash but suffered extensive injuries. On Thursday, an official from the district attorney’s office said Kazanecki pleaded guilty to a single count of grand theft in July.

At issue is whether Fountain Valley had an appropriate pursuit policy at the time of the accident that clearly explained what an officer should do when a pursuit continues into another city. In addition, a judge will have to decide whether Nguyen should have initiated a high-speed chase on a busy street in a case that involved a minor property crime.

“Fountain Valley had a pursuit policy, but it was flawed in the area of how and when the police should hand off a pursuit when it passes into another city,” said attorney Fred Sayre, who is representing Magdaleno’s widow, Carrie Eloise, and the couple’s two children, Samantha and Joshua.

*

But Sayre said the larger issue is Nguyen’s conduct during the chase. He said investigators hired by his office located 20 witnesses who said Nguyen’s siren was not on during the chase. After the crash, numerous witnesses said they saw Nguyen’s cruiser approach the intersection where the crash occurred with flashing lights but no siren.

One woman said she saw Nguyen walk over to Bandola, who was bleeding inside the crumpled Escort, and make derogatory remarks.

“It was the behavior of the officer, who was pursuing two kids who tried to snatch a camera, that caused this accident,” Sayre said. “The question is whether an officer should be allowed to pursue someone who committed a nonviolent crime at a high rate of speed on a busy street. We think not.”

Don Heinbuch, Fountain Valley’s risk manager, and police officials declined to comment and referred inquiries to Lee Wood, the attorney representing the city in the lawsuit. Wood did not return telephone calls to his office.

But Dwight Kunz, claims adjuster for the city’s insurance carrier, said the city is not liable in the case.