Party-Goers Say Deputy Struck Man Who Died

A few hours after the funeral Thursday of a 21-year-old man who was beaten to death last weekend at a party in Meiners Oaks, three of the party-goers stood by their statements that a sheriff’s deputy struck the man in the head after he had already been clubbed.

As the family of Nicholas Dowey mourned his death, Ventura County sheriff’s detectives continued to interview dozens of people said to have witnessed the attack.

Witnesses have said the Ventura man was hit in the head with either a baseball bat or club by an unknown assailant during an out-of-control party on St. Thomas Drive in Meiners Oaks last Friday night.

Several people also have said publicly that after Dowey was injured, he staggered out of the party and during a struggle with deputies was allegedly struck in the head with a flashlight wielded by one of them.

Sheriff’s investigators, however, said that so far only one person has come forward to authorities alleging the deputy struck Dowey, and many other witnesses have said that did not happen.

Although he could not say whether Dowey was struck by a deputy, Sheriff Larry Carpenter said earlier this week that a number of witnesses told investigators “that was absolutely not the case.”

Sheriff’s Capt. Keith Parks said Thursday that the department had nothing new to report.

But on Thursday three people who were at the party said they saw the deputy strike the already injured Dowey.

Christian Taylor, a 21-year-old oil rig worker, said he saw a deputy hit Dowey in the head with a flashlight.

“I saw [the deputy] hit him at least twice,” Taylor said. “I don’t know if that’s what killed him . . . because that deputy hit him, we might never know who is responsible.”

Taylor and two other party-goers--Deva Gatica, 21, and Rob Herring, 25--each repeated earlier public statements that they saw a deputy strike Dowey after he was already seriously injured.

“Whoever hit him first needs to go to jail,” Gatica said after attending Dowey’s funeral. “And the deputy who hit him needs to go to jail.”

Detectives are still looking for witnesses who saw Dowey struck the first time but are having trouble finding anyone willing to come forward.

“I’m sure at least 30 people know who did it,” said Taylor, who did not see Dowey hit the first time. “But they’re afraid.”

Taylor, Gatica and Herring all said that a group of rowdy skinheads contributed to the atmosphere of chaos and violence that was building during the party.

“There are a thousand things that led up to this,” said Gatica, a student who is home for the summer.

“I live in New York City now and I don’t see this kind of thing happening there,” Gatica said. “There has been a dramatic increase in tension here in the last year.”

Taylor said a young Latino man was bloodied in a fight early in the evening outside the party, and an hour later many of his friends had a standoff with dozens of skinheads and others at the party.

As the band began playing, dancers in front of the stage got increasingly aggressive and violent, the three said. They said several sheriff’s deputies were already in patrol cars in front of the home where the party occurred by the time Dowey was hit in the head and stumbled outside.

Taylor’s mother, Cedy Taylor, tried to organize a meeting Thursday evening for residents of the Ojai Valley concerned about skinhead violence there.

“Please express your own personal views of what is happening around you with the skinhead gangs and the violence that follows them,” she wrote in a flier distributed throughout the area. “I have had it!! And hope that many of you will care enough to want to put a stop to the racial violence that is going on around us.”