Man Says W. Covina Mayor Identified Himself as Policeman

Potentially deepening a political crisis that has roiled West Covina City Hall, a man involved in a minor 1996 traffic accident with Mayor Ben Wong said Wong claimed to be a policeman while flashing a badge issued to City Council members, then confiscated the motorist’s driver’s license.

In an interview Wednesday night, Oscar Bocanegra of Pomona said that when he followed Wong’s instructions and later went to the West Covina Police Department to recover his license, the lieutenant who interviewed him did not tell him Wong was a civilian.

The mayor would not comment Thursday on Bocanegra’s statements. In previous interviews Wong has admitted poor judgment but said he did not identify himself as a police officer. He has also said he understands how Bocanegra could mistake him for one.

The motorist’s account of his exchange with Wong contradicts a police memo written nine days after the incident. The memo says Bocanegra told police “he is not sure what was said.”

City officials noted that the memo was written days after the incident, while Bocanegra’s current recollections are more than a year old.

Bocanegra, however, said in the interview Wednesday that he clearly recalled asking police whether Wong was an officer and receiving no answer. He said he was not certain Wong was a civilian until he read a Times story about the episode.

The Wong matter is one of two cases of possible wrongdoing by authorities that have shaken West Covina government and led the council to order the city attorney to contact the FBI and request an investigation. Police Chief John T. Distelrath was placed on leave last month for allegedly using federal drug forfeiture funds to pay a personal business partner whom he hired as a consultant for his department. Distelrath has denied any wrongdoing.

In the Wong case, the mayor’s conduct has never previously been questioned. Attention has focused on how local law enforcement responded to Bocanegra’s report.

A memo written by Distelrath says the chief discussed the issue with local Deputy Dist. Atty. David Demerjian, who said there was at worst “a technical petty theft” charge (for taking the license), which his office would not file. But Demerjian contradicted that account, saying he told Distelrath that the matter should be presented to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, since the traffic accident occurred in its jurisdiction. The Los Angeles city attorney never heard about the matter, officials there said.

In a previous interview, Wong said that after the accident he heard nothing about the issue until City Hall began to buzz with rumors earlier this month.

The minor collision occurred Nov. 30, 1996, when Bocanegra’s Volkswagen Jetta and Wong’s Mercedes bumped into each other on a Harbor Freeway offramp as the mayor was heading to the USC-Notre Dame game.

After both men left their vehicles and found no significant damage, Wong got into his car and acted as though he was about to drive off, Bocanegra said Wednesday. An angry Bocanegra pounded the side of Wong’s car and the mayor leaped out and said, according to Bocanegra, “West Covina PD--let me see some ID.”

Bocanegra said that Wong took his driver’s license and left but that Bocanegra--right behind him in heavy traffic--repeatedly pulled up alongside the mayor’s car and asked him how he could get the license back. Wong told him that it would be mailed back to him in a week or that he should go to the West Covina police, Bocanegra said Wednesday.

Wong’s previous accounts generally match Bocanegra’s except that the mayor has repeatedly denied identifying himself as an officer.

According to the memo--written two days after Bocanegra’s Dec. 7, 1996, visit to the station--Lt. Ray Nordin asked the motorist whether Wong identified himself as a policeman, but Bocanegra could not recall.

Bocanegra gave Nordin the mayor’s vanity plate number--USC NO1--and the lieutenant checked with the state Department of Motor Vehicles, verifying that the car belonged to Wong, according to the memo. But Bocanegra said Nordin did not tell him whose car it was.

Nordin sent a reserve officer to pick up Bocanegra’s license from Wong and returned it to the motorist, the memo says. The lieutenant said Thursday that he had been ordered not to comment.