Case Against Ex-Candidate Is Dismissed

ALHAMBRA —  A Municipal Court judge has dismissed charges against former City Council candidate Frank J. Arcuri, who had been accused of disturbing a public meeting, resisting arrest and battery on a police officer.

Alhambra Municipal Court Judge Michael Kanner said he dismissed the charges because of insufficient evidence.

Arcuri was arrested on Feb. 8 after Monterey Park Mayor Christopher F. Houseman ordered the sergeant-at-arms to escort Arcuri out of a City Council meeting.

The arrest occurred after Houseman had banned the use of camera flashes during council meetings. Arcuri, a professional photographer who publishes a monthly newsletter, had brought his camera with a flash attachment to the meeting.

As the mayor made his announcement, there were several flashes from a camera. “I was disconnecting a flash at the time,” Arcuri said in an interview last week. “Maybe it went off.”

Police had said Arcuri refused to peacefully leave the council meeting and bit a policeman during a scuffle. Arcuri denied all the charges and said police knocked his camera to the floor.

“(The arrest) frightened people away from openly supporting me in the last election and this was deliberate. They were trying to discredit me,” Arcuri said in the interview.