Council OKs $400,000 for Two Alleged Police Victims

In the first of what is expected to be a flood of settlements in lawsuits stemming from the Rampart corruption scandal, the Los Angeles City Council agreed Wednesday to pay $400,000 to two men who alleged they were beaten and harassed by anti-gang police officers.

The council agreed to pay $231,000 to Ismael Jimenez, an 18th Street gang member who allegedly was beaten in the Rampart station by former Officer Brian Hewitt in February 1998 after the mother of another gang member filed a complaint about a separate beating. Hewitt was fired over the incident.

The council also agreed to pay $169,000 to Eduardo Hernandez, who alleged that Rampart Division Officers Jeffrey Stewart and Jeffrey Robb arrested him in February 1998 without legal justification and that Stewart slammed his head into a wall, causing Hernandez to “bleed profusely,” according to his lawsuit. He also claimed that Robb witnessed the assault and did nothing.

“They beat the crap out of these guys,” said Councilman Joel Wachs.

The two plaintiffs jointly filed a third, federal lawsuit alleging officers engaged in an ongoing, unlawful pattern of harassment, arrest and brutality against people they believed were gang members.

Jimenez claimed that starting in 1992, when he was 14, Rampart Division officers routinely stopped and arrested him without probable cause. Hernandez claimed that he was detained, arrested or jailed more than 100 times in the three years before he filed the lawsuit. He said the harassment continued even after he filed his complaint.

“These cops were just terrible,” said one city official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “There was a long list of things they had done that should have gotten them dismissed from the department. Now we are having to pay.”

Jimenez claimed he was standing outside a tattoo parlor in February 1998 when Hewitt approached him with a gun and handcuffed him before taking him to the station.

The civil rights lawsuit alleged that Hewitt grabbed Jimenez by the neck and shoved him into a wall before punching him repeatedly in the chest and torso.

Jimenez vomited blood in the interview before he was allowed to stagger from the police station, according to police documents.

In addition to voting unanimously to approve the settlement, the council agreed to ask Police Chief Bernard C. Parks or a representative to appear before the council next week to address concerns that officers named in the lawsuits had troubling histories of complaints that never resulted in disciplinary action.

The council was told that one officer has been named in 11 complaints since he was hired in 1994, including charges of using unauthorized force, and that he was promoted at least twice before the latest lawsuit.

Wachs said the department did not sustain any of the complaints.

The LAPD “kept saying these things didn’t happen,” Wachs said. “Now we are paying $400,000 for something that they said didn’t happen.”

Councilwoman Laura Chick said the cases raise serious questions about the department’s failure to recognize a pattern of problems in officers’ conduct.

“What was underscored today for me is this department is a government entity that is seriously dysfunctional, in terms of being able to identify when an officer has a problem and what to do about it,” Chick said.

Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski introduced the motion calling for a briefing by the chief, saying that even when there are many unsustained complaints, LAPD supervisors should be more aware of developing patterns.

Council members said there was widespread agreement to settle the cases rather than risk much larger jury awards if the cases went to trial, especially given the negative publicity about the LAPD caused by the largest scandal in its history.

“I think we got off cheap,” Wachs said. “In my opinion these are cases where we could have been forced to pay much more, given all that has happened.”

Thomas Hokinson of the city attorney’s staff said his office recommended what it believed was a reasonable settlement.

The Jimenez and Hernandez cases are the first of many lawsuits expected to be settled in the coming months. The city attorney’s office has estimated the total liability involved in Rampart cases may reach more than $125 million. So far, 50 criminal convictions involving Rampart officers have been vacated or reversed. At least 30 officers have been relieved of duty, suspended, quit or fired.