Doctor Complains Police Used Mace on Bound Patient

The chief of the emergency department at UCLA Medical Center said he made a complaint Tuesday against a Los Angeles police officer who sprayed Mace in the face of a defenseless patient under treatment in the hospital’s emergency room.

Dr. Marshall Morgan of UCLA said he was told by his staff that the patient, Jason Standley, 29, was being held at the hospital in four-point leather restraints when an officer sprayed Mace into the patient’s face at a distance of “about four or five inches.”

The patient had been brought by officers to the emergency room for treatment about 4 a.m. on Friday, after drinking and resisting arrest. Morgan, who said he was informed of the incident by doctors and nurses on duty at the time, said Standley suffered from face and shoulder lacerations as well as broken teeth.

At the hospital, medical personnel placed the patient in four-point leather restraints typically used to subdue belligerent individuals. An emergency room nurse then observed a police officer--whom she did not identify--approach the patient and spray him with Mace in his eyes, face, nose and mouth. As the Mace dispersed, Morgan said emergency room personnel began complaining of burning eyes and other irritations.

Detective Steve Osti at the West Los Angeles station said that Standley was arrested and booked on Aug. 11 on charges of assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon. The weapon, he said, was a loose handcuff.

Osti said the trouble began when Standley, who is employed at a fast-food restaurant, got drunk and began harassing two people on a West Los Angeles street. He said police officers had to use their batons to subdue and arrest Standley.

They then took him for medical care to UCLA, where he became combative when the officers removed his handcuffs. Osti confirmed that officers used Mace on Standley in the emergency room.

Lt. Douglas Pilot, acting commanding officer of the West Los Angeles police station, acknowledged that Morgan called Tuesday to complain about the Mace incident. Pilot said the Mace was used only after Standley freed one leg from his restraints and kicked over a food tray. He said he is satisfied that his officers acted properly.