2 Deputies Partly to Blame in Man’s Death, Jury Told

Two sheriff’s deputies contributed to the death of an already injured and disoriented Nick Dowey when they struck the young man over the head with a flashlight during a struggle, an attorney representing Dowey’s parents told jurors Thursday.

But an attorney for the deputies argued that only an empty pepper spray can--not a flashlight--was used to strike a combative Dowey as one deputy struggled to control the bleeding man so paramedics could treat him.

It was the first day of testimony in federal court in Los Angeles in a civil trial that pits Nicholas James Dowey’s parents against eight sheriff’s deputies who were called to quell a rowdy party in Meiners Oaks on Sept. 12, 1997.

Ann and James Dowey of Ventura allege the deputies responding to the party that night failed to help their son, who had been struck in the head by another partygoer. Further, they believe at least one deputy added to their son’s injuries by hitting him in the head with a flashlight.

The Doweys’ attorney, Richard Hamlish, said Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputies Donald Rodarte and Darin Yanover treated 21-year-old Dowey like a suspect instead of a like a man who needed help.

“All he keeps saying is that he wants to go to the hospital,” Hamlish told jurors. “And they’re trying to interrogate him.”

Friends were helping Dowey into a truck in hopes of getting him medical attention when the deputies arrived, attorneys said.

Both sides acknowledge Dowey, a junior at Cal State Northridge’s Ventura campus, was uncooperative with the deputies who asked him what happened. They believe he may have been disoriented from the blows and didn’t realize he was talking to authorities. He tried to run away.

But Yanover caught up with him and began struggling with Dowey. Rodarte, in an effort to help his partner, tried to douse the bleeding man with pepper spray, but hit Yanover instead, the attorneys said. Yanover was incapacitated, leaving Rodarte alone to tussle with Dowey, a former high school wrestler who was 5 feet, 11 inches tall and nearly 200 pounds.

In the struggle, Hamlish said, a frantic Rodarte first struck Dowey with the empty pepper spray can still clutched in his hand. The blows had no effect, he said.

“The next thing he did was pick up a flashlight and hit him in the head with it,” Hamlish said. “As a result, Dowey goes down on his hands and knees.”

Paramedics were on the scene by this time, and Dowey was rushed to Ventura County Medical Center where he underwent surgery on his head. He died the next day.

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Yanover and Rodarte were the only two of the eight defendants present for opening statements Thursday. As the attorneys spoke, Rodarte and Yanover rarely looked at jurors, instead keeping their eyes cast downward with faces that bore no expression.

A Sheriff’s Department internal investigation determined the deputies did not use excessive force or otherwise act improperly that night. It also concluded that Rodarte did strike Dowey with a pepper spray can, but not with a flashlight.

However, Rodarte was terminated in September 1998 for what officials cited as lying about striking Dowey with the pepper spray can.

Attorneys for Rodarte were able to keep the deputy’s dismissal from being entered into evidence, convincing the judge that the termination is irrelevant to the civil case.

In his opening statement, defense attorney Alan Witsosky emphasized the brutal beating Dowey suffered before deputies arrived at the party, arguing it left him in such a disoriented state he struck out even at those, like Rodarte and Yanover, who attempted to help him.

“Nick Dowey was savagely and brutally beaten by assailants with chains, bats, bottles and clubs,” Witsosky said. “And you will hear testimony he was still functioning, but in a ‘fight-or-flight’ manner. He was trying to fend off his attackers and he didn’t know who they were. And he didn’t know the people who were trying to help him.”

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Dowey first ran from, then began struggling with, deputies, Witsosky said. And after Yanover was hit with pepper spray, Rodarte was beginning to lose the struggle.

“Rodarte feels a tug at his equipment belt,” said Witsosky. Adding to the deputy’s panic, the attorney said, an angry crowd of dozens of partygoers had circled the struggle.

“He’s concerned now that he may be disarmed. Now, what’s started out as an attempt to help an injured young man is possibly turning into a struggle for not only his safety, but the safety of his partner.”

In desperation, Rodarte struck Dowey with the pepper spray can, but never with a flashlight, Witsosky said.

Two partygoers also took the witness stand to testify for the plaintiffs. Both said they saw Rodarte hit Dowey with a flashlight.

Dray Plueger of Ventura went to the party with Dowey that evening. He testified he and Dowey were jumped at the end of the party by a group of men after he and Dowey threw an especially rowdy partygoer out of the gathering. Many of their attackers held bats, chains and other weapons, he said.

One of them swung a bat and struck Dowey in the head or shoulder area, Plueger said.

“Nick fell,” he tearfully recalled. “Some other guys fell on top of him, and I kicked them off.”

The deputies who showed up shortly after the fight were confrontational toward Dowey, Plueger said.

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“I told them, we didn’t do anything,” Plueger said. “He’s hurt. We need to get him to the hospital.”

Plueger said Dowey was resisting the officers, but believed it was only because the head injury left him severely disoriented. Plueger said he tried to act as a peacekeeper between Dowey and the deputies.

“I was going up to Nick and trying to tell him they were trying to help him,” Plueger said. “And I was trying to tell them he’s hurt, he’s hurt. But every time I did that there was another cop in my face pushing me back.”

During the struggle between Rodarte and Dowey, Plueger said, he clearly saw Rodarte strike his friend with a large flashlight. Andrew Salmen, who attended the party but did not know Dowey, also testified that he, too, saw Dowey being struck by Rodarte with a flashlight.

“I believe it was three times,” Plueger said. “He crumpled to the ground. The next thing I remember seeing was him laying on the ground and being handcuffed.”

During cross-examination, Witsosky challenged Plueger’s memory, noting that Plueger himself had been struck over the head with a beer bottle during an earlier fight with the man they ejected from the party.

“My memory in some parts is in bits and pieces,” Plueger acknowledged.