Civil Rights Suit Accusing Police Dept. of Brutality Settled by Torrance for $105,000

Six men who accused the Torrance Police Department of brutality in a highly publicized case have accepted $105,000 to drop a federal civil rights lawsuit filed last year, when the men released a videotape showing one of them being choked and beaten into unconsciousness.

The six friends filed suit in September, 1988, seeking more than $3 million in damages. They claimed that they had been beaten four months earlier by Torrance police who broke up an unruly party they were attending.

The Torrance City Council voted Dec. 5 to settle the case.

Attorney Hugh Manes said the men--Clifford S. Shirk Jr. and Thomas Tice of Torrance; Eric Musick, Redondo Beach; Gerald Lockstadt, Downey; Darrick Tucker, Inglewood, and Steve Warner, Venice--consider the settlement a victory.

They wanted to avoid a lengthy trial and did not expect to win a substantial judgment because none of the men sustained severe injuries, Manes said.

The attorney said the six plaintiffs believed that they did not need to prove wrongdoing within the Torrance Police Department after a $6-million civil verdict in September against the department and seven of its employees in an unrelated case. That judgment went to a San Pedro man whose son was killed in a collision with an off-duty Torrance police sergeant. A jury found that the Torrance Police Department had a “pattern and practice” of condoning police misconduct.

“That was a very compelling factor in their decision,” Manes said. “They never would have settled this case, if it hadn’t been shown they had such a policy.”

Torrance City Atty. Ken Nelson said the police officers did nothing wrong in breaking up the party and added that the city settled to avoid the substantial attorneys’ fees in defending the case.

The six friends drew substantial publicity last year when they released a videotape of police arresting Tice, 20. The tape showed Officer James Lynch holding Tice in a chokehold, while Officer Ross Bartlett hit him eight times with a nightstick. The officers continued to choke and hit Tice after his body went limp, the videotape showed.

The Police Department and City Hall received hundreds of phone calls and letters of protest after the videotape was broadcast on nationwide television.