Panel Finds Deputy Fired for Lying Was Truthful

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.”