Deputy Used Force but Didn’t Kill Man, Sheriff’s Report Says

Although a Ventura County sheriff’s deputy denied using force on a rowdy party-goer who died hours later, a report by department investigators concludes that he hit the man in the head with a can of pepper spray.

However, the blows were not what killed 21-year-old Nick Dowey, concluded a medical examiner cited in the report. Instead, Dowey’s death was caused by injuries he suffered in an attack earlier in the evening.

Sheriff’s investigators concluded that Deputy Donald Rodarte’s use of force on the injured but combative man was justified. Though Rodarte was exonerated, he was fired two weeks ago because he lied to investigators about striking the man, department officials said. The officials, who asked not to be named, emphasized that the termination was not “a use-of-force issue.” Rather, they said he was fired because he repeatedly denied striking the man, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. “I feel that if I would have used such force, that would stand out in my mind and it would be in my report,” Rodarte told the investigators. The internal affairs report is included in court records of a federal civil rights lawsuit filed earlier this year by Dowey’s parents.

Bill Hadden, a Santa Monica attorney helping Rodarte fight his termination, was unavailable for comment Friday.

Rodarte and 11 other deputies were called to a Meiners Oaks home Sept. 12, 1997, to quiet a rowdy and intoxicated group of party-goers. Rodarte and partner Darin Yanover found Dowey staggering from the crowd with blood from a head wound gushing down his face. Unknown assailants apparently had hit Dowey with a baseball bat or club moments before deputies arrived.

Rodarte and Yanover said Dowey saw them and tried to run. When the deputies tried to restrain him, Dowey struggled and swung at the officers, the two deputies told investigators. Rodarte tried to douse Dowey with pepper spray, but the fumes hit Yanover instead, according to the report.

A witness later told officers that a deputy then struck Dowey with a flashlight or some other object. Dowey was taken to Ventura County Medical Center later that night. He died the following day.

The lawsuit filed by Dowey’s parents alleges that blows landed by the deputies during the struggle contributed to their son’s death. The suit names as defendants Rodarte, Yanover and six other deputies at the scene.

In the hours after the struggle, fellow deputies said Rodarte spoke of striking Dowey with the pepper spray. According to the report, Rodarte told sheriff’s service technician Dale Stone “that he had the [can] in his hand and that his partner was sprayed and he hit ‘the guy’ [Dowey] a couple of times on the head with it. Rodarte said this while motioning with his hands, as if he had Dowey in a headlock.”

Rodarte showed his broken canister to fellow deputies Patrick Hardy and Oscar Gongora, the report said. During an autopsy, a medical examiner also noted a circular bruise on the back of Dowey’s head that matched the shape of a pepper spray can, according to the report.

In an interview with investigators, Rodarte was shown an autopsy photo of Dowey’s bruise. Three other deputies had implicated him, Rodarte was told. Investigators then asked Rodarte if he felt he had been losing the fight with Dowey. They asked if he struck him to regain control, but later lied about it because Dowey was in such serious condition.

“If I were to have done that,” Rodarte told investigators, “I would have recalled doing it. . . .I wouldn’t hide it. I knew what the situation was. I knew the strength of what he was. I knew what I was faced with. I don’t have any recollection at all of ever using such force.”

Jeff Held, an attorney for the deputies, has asked the court to bar jurors in the upcoming civil case from learning of Rodarte’s termination. Held contends the information would taint the jury’s opinion of Rodarte. A judge will rule on the request later this month.

The case is to begin in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Nov. 17.