Deliberations to Begin in Death of Bank Robber

A federal civil rights lawsuit accusing police of withholding medical care from a bank robber wounded in the 1997 North Hollywood shootout went to the jury late Friday.

In closing arguments, attorneys Stephen Yagman and Victor Sherman argued that two veteran LAPD officers deliberately allowed Emil Matasareanu to bleed to death as he lay handcuffed in the street.

Clad in full body armor and firing military assault rifles, Matasareanu, 30, and his crime partner, Larry Phillips Jr., 26, wounded 17 police officers and bystanders after robbing a Bank of America branch on Laurel Canyon Boulevard on Feb. 28, 1997.

While condemning Matasareanu’s rampage as heinous, Yagman and Sherman contended that the two officers took the law into their own hands by ordering city ambulances away from the scene where Matasareanu lay bleeding with 29 bullet wounds.

He died by the time an ambulance arrived about an hour later.

Defense lawyers argued that the two accused officers, James Vojtecky and John Futrell, now retired, were heroes, not villains.

Denying charges of deliberate indifference to Matasareanu’s medical condition, the defense sought to focus the jury’s attention on the state of confusion and chaos that prevailed even after the shooting stopped.

Police radio broadcasts warned that other suspects might be hiding in the neighborhood, they noted.

Vojtecky, a detective, helped subdue Matasareanu and took charge of the crime scene after the 44-minute gun battle. A Fire Department emergency medical technician dispatched to the location testified that a plainclothes officer, possibly Vojtecky, had told him to “get the . . . out of here” because it was too dangerous.

On the stand, Vojtecky denied ordering the medical technician to leave. He said he cursed at the man as he was departing without Matasareanu and demanded that another ambulance be sent.

Whom to believe?

Sherman said in his closing argument that only Vojtecky had a motive to lie.

Assistant City Atty. Don Vincent, who represents Vojtecky and the city, insisted that the detective acted honorably and professionally even after Matasareanu fired at him.

At least four different officers sent out radio calls for an ambulance to remove Matasareanu, Vincent said.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Matasareanu’s two young sons, accuses Futrell of calling off an ambulance en route to the scene with a message saying, “I have no officers or citizens down. Just suspect.”

Yagman, who showed jurors an enlarged news photo of Futrell standing over Matasareanu, said: “If that isn’t deliberate indifference, nothing is.”

Gage contended, however, that neither officer could be held to blame because Matasareanu was mortally wounded and “not salvageable.”

Physicians called by each side during the trial offered conflicting opinions about whether Matasareanu could have been saved.

“Matasareanu’s survivability is not the question, however,” said Sherman. Once captured, disarmed and placed in handcuffs, he said, Matasareanu was entitled to the same quality of care given to anyone else, including his victims.

Sherman also attacked the defense contention that the crime scene was still considered a “kill zone” by police. He pointed to videos and photos showing police officers milling about and spectators gathering unhindered as Matasareanu lay prone in the street, bleeding.

In their closing arguments, the defense lawyers also attacked the testimony of Dora Lubensky, a 69-year-old resident who told of hearing Matasareanu plead “Help me” three times as blood streamed from his body.

Gage suggested that she might have made up the story after watching television footage of the drama.

The jury is scheduled to begin deliberations Monday.