Journalist, Beaten by Officers, Wins Lawsuit

A journalist who sued four Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, alleging that they beat and falsely arrested him in 1979 after he photographed them beating another man, was awarded more than $200,000 in damages Tuesday by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury.

“I feel great now,” said Roberto Rodriguez, 31. “After seven years (of waiting), I am exhausted. I felt like quitting a thousand times.”

Rodriguez, now the editor of Caminos, a national Latino magazine, filed his lawsuit in 1980. He said he “didn’t have that much faith in the justice system, but I guess that all changes today.”

Eleven thousand dollars of the award represents total punitive damages against the four deputies individually, money they are personally liable for. They are also liable for an additional $5,000 for violation of Rodriguez’s civil rights. The remainder, $188,500, was assessed as compensatory damages, shared jointly by the County of Los Angeles and the deputies.

“The punishment has to be economic,” said attorney Antonio Rodriguez of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, which represented Roberto Rodriguez (no relation). “I think especially outrageous in this case was that . . . one of the deputies split on vacation and didn’t testify.”

Attorney Paul Paquette, who represented the county, said he found it “unbelievable that a jury could believe such a contrived story (as Rodriguez told).” He said the county probably will appeal.

Rodriguez was 25 and a staff photographer for Low Rider magazine when he was arrested in March, 1979, on Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles, which was closed in a sheriff’s crackdown on weekend cruising. During trial he said he was photographing deputies beating a man and heard one of the officers yell, “Get the camera.” Then the officers chased and beat him with their clubs, one of the blows causing a forehead gash that required 14 stitches, he said.

The deputies reported that Rodriguez shouted profanities and that they threatened to arrest him for interfering, but when they tried to grab him, he hit them with his camera and a fight ensued in which his face was cut.

Rodriguez was arrested for assaulting a peace officer, but later released. He said his camera was returned without the film he said he shot of the alleged beating.

Paquette told jurors that the incident occurred during a “potentially very dangerous situation . . . the crowd was inching forward, yelling at the officers. It is an offense to interfere with a police officer in the performance of his duty.” He also told the jury that police officers “are entitled to use force with persons resisting arrest.”

Rodriguez’s lawyer told jurors that for years after the incident, his client “was in fear, in confusion, (and) developed a shyness about himself. His mother thought she had lost him.”

The defendant deputies are Patrick W. Soll, Gheral Taylor, Paul Rapisarda and John Galbraith. All are still with the Sheriff’s Department. None could be reached for comment Tuesday.