Officer Beating Suit Is Settled
A lawsuit claiming that an Orange County sheriff’s deputy beat a nightclub patron so badly with his baton that he broke the man’s arm has been settled for roughly $50,000, the plaintiff’s attorney said Friday.
The suit alleged that Jorge Lopez, 26, of Newport Beach was attacked by Deputy Aaron Richards without warning after being expelled from a Lake Forest nightclub in February 1998. Lopez said Friday that he was pleased with the outcome of the case but remains angry over the incident.
“It was the worst thing that could happen to someone,” he said. Lopez plans to use the money to return to college and to repay about $11,000 he has spent on medical and legal bills.
Neither Richards nor his county lawyer could be reached for comment Friday.
Sheriff’s officials said they did not know whether Richards and the other deputies present at the scuffle were disciplined. The department, however, conducted a criminal investigation and gave the results to prosecutors, who decided in March not to file charges against Richards.
The evidence implicating the deputy was insufficient to win a conviction, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ebrahim Baytieh. He acknowledged that the investigation turned up conflicting statements.
The district attorney’s office determined that Lopez was injured when Richards and others tried to stop him from fighting with a bouncer outside the club, Baytieh said. The bouncer, he said, was escorting Lopez from the premises after a cocktail waitress complained that Lopez was harassing her.
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