Deputy Fired for Lying Told Truth, Report Finds

Former Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Donald Rodarte was telling the truth when he denied striking a man with a pepper spray can at a raucous Ojai party two years ago and should be given his job back, a county’s Civil Service Commission member has found.

The decision, which still awaits a final vote by the full commission Jan. 27, means the 29-year-old ex-deputy who was fired 16 months ago for lying to his superiors could return to work within a few weeks.

“In all these months he was fighting for vindication, and I think the decision did that for him,” said William Hadden, the lawyer who represents Rodarte.

Rodarte was fired in September 1998 after an internal investigation concluded that he had used his pepper spray canister to strike 21-year-old Nicholas Dowey in the head during a struggle with authorities.

Dowey, who had sustained head injuries before deputies arrived to break up the rowdy Sept. 12, 1997, party, later died.

His death prompted an internal investigation--and a federal lawsuit--in which witnesses reported that they saw deputies beat Dowey despite his injuries.

During the internal investigation, one deputy told authorities that Rodarte had admitted striking Dowey with his pepper stray can. But Rodarte denied ever having made such a statement.

Although the internal investigation cleared the law enforcement officers who responded to the party of any wrongdoing, Rodarte was later fired after the department concluded that he had lied.

Rodarte appealed the termination to the county’s five-member Civil Service Commission.

During 10 days of hearings last fall, witnesses were called to testify before Commissioner William Mehrens, who issued an eight-page written decision last Friday.

The testimony was clear, Mehrens concluded, that Rodarte tried to subdue an incoherent Dowey and at one point used pepper spray. But based on witness statements, there was no proof that Rodarte had hit Dowey with the can.

“These witnesses offered no credible evidence that Deputy Rodarte struck Mr. Dowey with a [pepper] spray canister,” Mehrens wrote.

Mehrens pointed out in his ruling that partygoers offered conflicting statements about what happened that night.

Witnesses testified that they saw a deputy strike Dowey with some object, but they were unable to clearly identify which deputy, where he was standing or what object he was allegedly wielding.

As for the deputy who reported that Rodarte admitted hitting Dowey with a pepper spray can, Mehrens concluded that the officer was “confused” and “does not have an accurate memory.”

And the commissioner found Rodarte’s testimony “credible and reasonable.”

*

“Deputy Rodarte explained that prior to using his [pepper] spray canister, he shook the canister to assure its activation,” Mehrens wrote. “The shaking movement by Deputy Rodarte could reasonably have been confused with a hitting movement by persons who were not closely following the interaction between Deputy Rodarte and Mr. Dowey.”

In conclusion, Mehrens found that Rodarte did not strike Dowey with a pepper spray can, and because his firing was based on a “misleading report” that he did, the deputy should be reinstated.

The commissioner further ordered that Rodarte be hired back without loss of pay, benefits or seniority.

With the exception of about a seven-month period when the defense sought a postponement in the case until the end of the federal trial, Rodarte is also expected to be awarded back pay.

Sheriff Bob Brooks could not be reached for comment at his office late Tuesday, but spokesman Eric Nishimoto said the department was aware of the ruling and awaiting the commission’s final vote.

“There really isn’t much to say right now,” Nishimoto said. “When we get the decision, we’ll review it and act accordingly.”

Assistant County Counsel Leroy Smith, who represented the department at the civil service hearings, said it would be unusual for the full commission not to support Mehrens’ findings.

Smith said any decision about a possible appeal is premature. The county will have 90 days after next week’s hearing to appeal the ruling if it chooses.

For Rodarte, the decision caps a lengthy battle to clear his name.

He and four fellow sheriff’s deputies were acquitted last year of charges that they contributed to the beating death of Dowey, a student at Cal State Northridge’s Ventura campus.

Dowey’s parents, James and Ann, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Department alleging that the deputies were negligent when they struck Dowey during a struggle to subdue him.

During the trial, more than a dozen witnesses testified that they saw deputies wrestling with Dowey before putting him in a headlock, trying to douse him with pepper spray, and hitting him as many as three times with a flashlight.

*

Defense attorneys, however, told jurors that Dowey, a former high school wrestler, was disoriented and combative. After two days of deliberation, the federal jury returned not-guilty verdicts last June.

After hearing the verdict, Rodarte dipped his head in his arms and wept.

On Tuesday, Hadden said his client, who has been unemployed for more than year, is eager to return to work.

Hadden said Rodarte bears no ill will against the department, believing investigators made a decision to fire him in good faith but relied upon inaccurate information.

“He was thrilled,” Hadden said of the ruling. “He said one of the toughest things he had to do was tell his children he wasn’t working at the Sheriff’s Department anymore.”

Times staff writer Fred Alvarez contributed to this story.