Huntington’s Use-of-Force Suit Settled

Huntington Beach has paid $25,000 to a man who said he was punched and kicked by an off-duty police officer during a confrontation at a local pizza restaurant. The July 2000 episode was one of two within 24 hours that brought excessive-force allegations against Officer Edmond Kennedy. A day later, a 17-year-old said Kennedy jumped on him and threw him to the ground in response to a vulgar gesture.

Kennedy has denied wrongdoing but acknowledged that his supervisors disciplined him in both incidents. He said he is appealing their decision.

“They made a big deal out of nothing,” he said, accusing the department of overreacting to recent police misconduct scandals in L.A. “They’re looking for things that they normally wouldn’t.”

Huntington Beach police officials said the two claims were so serious that they took the unusual step of asking prosecutors to review the cases for possible criminal charges against the officer.

The district attorney’s office last year rejected the cases, concluding that “there is a lack of sufficient evidence to support a filing of criminal charges against Officer Kennedy,” according to a letter prosecutors sent the Police Department. Prosecutors declined to provide more details.

An Orange County Superior Court judge on Monday ordered the county to release a second letter the district attorney sent the city about the cases. But prosecutors said they will not provide the document until the office decides whether to appeal the ruling.

In the latest settlement, approved last month, Kristopher Scotten, 21, accused Kennedy of attacking him while he worked at a local Pizza Hut.

The two had a history of confrontation. A year earlier, Kennedy had arrested the youngster after he drove slowly past Kennedy’s home blaring rap lyrics from his car that insulted police.

Police reports say the two did not speak again until Scotten drove past Kennedy’s home while the off-duty officer was in his garage.

Delivering pizzas, Scotten said he honked his horn at a friend who lived nearby. The officer, however, called the Police Department, told dispatchers that Scotten had shouted an insult at him and asked for help. Kennedy chased Scotten to a Pizza Hut, where he told him he was under arrest. Scotten refused to leave.

The officer grabbed at his arm several times, but Scotten pulled away, accusing Kennedy of assaulting him. The officer said Scotten pushed him hard on the shoulder. “At that point, I believe the fight was on,” Kennedy recalled. “You don’t struggle with a police officer and then push him.”

Kennedy stepped back, kicked Scotten’s stomach and punched him at least twice in the face. Scotten did not strike the officer back, and the two left together after a brief struggle.

Scotten was arrested on suspicion of using offensive words in a public place and resisting arrest, but the district attorney’s office declined to charge him.

Kennedy said supervisors told him he should have waited for other officers before confronting Scotten. The officer would not say what discipline they imposed.

A day later, according to police reports, Kennedy was on patrol when he spotted two teens walking on the beach, one of them smoking. He cited the smoker, a 16-year-old girl, for being underage and smoking.

Kennedy searched her companion, her boyfriend Adam McClain, and found a cigarette lighter in his pocket. He ordered McClain to throw it in a nearby trashcan. McClain threw it but missed. Kennedy ordered him to pick up the lighter, but McClain walked away.

The teen made an obscene gesture at the officer, according to police reports. The officer said the boy also screamed obscenities at him. As the teen walked through a throng of onlookers, Kennedy ran at him and pushed him to the ground. Kennedy said the teen was unhurt and that he acted because he feared McClain was about to become violent.

But McClain insisted that Kennedy struck him far harder than necessary, causing a welt and back pain that lasted weeks.