The Case of Leal vs. the Cop Was for the Birds

I’m convinced this tale says something about the imminent decline of civilization. Or, at least, Orange County civilization. Or, perhaps, just Santa Ana civilization.

How else to make sense of a chain of events that begins with a 5-foot-1-inch, 60-year-old woman feeding bread crumbs to pigeons on the streets of downtown Santa Ana, only to end up handcuffed in the back of a police car, only to end up in court after biting but then suing the police officer who arrested her?

We take you back to a Saturday morning last May, when Maria Leal stationed herself on 4th Street in Santa Ana and began distributing bread crumbs to needy pigeons.

A Jehovah’s Witness, she also was distributing literature to needy persons.

Turns out not everyone is a pigeon lover or, for that matter, a Jehovah’s Witness lover.

Apparently, someone notified police.

Enter Santa Ana Police Officer Leonard Salcedo, who was patrolling the downtown area.

He observed two women and, figuring one of them might be the suspect, he pulled over to investigate.

He told the women that someone had been observed feeding pigeons in the area and that doing so violated at least two city codes, including one against littering.

He set out to determine which of the two women was the culprit.

The on-site investigation quickly zeroed in on Leal, a widow who lives in Garden Grove. Officer Salcedo asked her for some identification.

Indignant, she refused.

Two Versions Emerge

This is where the stories begin to diverge.

Leal says the officer, who is 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, put his hand on her shoulder and forced her to the pavement.

In so doing, she says, her buttock and breast were bruised.

Salcedo, an 11-year veteran, says he did no such thing. But somewhere in the midst of trying to detain Leal, he put his hand on her shoulder--an opportunity she took to bite one of his fingers.

Salcedo called for backup.

He and other officers say Leal was acting somewhat uncontrollably and, in effect, plopped to the ground on her own as if exhibiting a form of civil disobedience. Whatever bruises she sustained came from her own actions, they say.

Police arrested and handcuffed Leal for assaulting an officer. She was taken into custody, booked, fingerprinted and photographed.

The district attorney’s office took a look at the case and said no thanks.

Maybe it realized an assault case involving a 120-pound woman biting the finger of a 200-pound police officer wouldn’t exactly inflame a jury.

Or maybe it simply realized this was more a case for Judge Judy than an actual Orange County courtroom.

And Then She Sues

And that would have ended it, except. . . .

Leal decided to sue the police officer for battery. She asked for $25,000.

Last week, an Orange County jury, no doubt wondering what the world is coming to, heard the case.

The jurors broke for lunch shortly after noon Thursday.

The judge told them to return to deliberate at 1:30 p.m.

At 1:45, the jury had a verdict.

No dice--or cash--for Leal.

Her attorney, Frederick Aguirre, was philosophical after the verdict. He’d been

representing Leal on a previous traffic accident in which she was rear-ended, he says, so when she decided she wanted to sue the police, he also handled that case.

He concedes his client was at fault for not providing identification and for biting Salcedo.

Plus, Aguirre says, Leal knew feeding birds “was a technical no-no, just like we all know going over 65 miles an hour is a technical no-no, but we all do it.”

Still, Aguirre says, the officer should have been able to figure out a better way to handle things. He also thinks Salcedo did, in fact, cause Leal’s bruises.

Christopher G. Norman, the assistant city attorney who defended Salcedo, says the jury’s rapid verdict in Salcedo’s favor suggests otherwise.

Ironically, Norman says, Salcedo never intended to give Leal a ticket for feeding the birds.

I’d like to take sides, but which one?

I can’t support someone who bites a cop, even when the skin isn’t broken or blood drawn.

But neither can I support a cop who can’t finesse his way out of a confrontation with a 60-year-old pigeon-feeder.

I’m left to conclude only that the world has gone bats.

Do you think Leal will ever return to feed pigeons? I ask Aguirre.

“I don’t think so,” he says. “Maybe in another city where birds are allowed to be fed.”

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.