Baldwin Park Gets Sued Again This Time for Not Complying With Freedom of Information Act Request
A teenage boy was allegedly beaten and stomped on so severely by a pair of Baldwin Park police officers that he had their shoe prints on his pants and numerous abrasions on his legs when he went to the hospital following a 2019 confrontation, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.
Anthony Romero of Glendora, who was 16 at the time, is suing the city of Baldwin Park, along with Officer Ryan Felton and Sgt. Joseph Meister, for excessive force. He is seeking unspecified damages.
The Baldwin Park Police Department has completed an internal investigation and Felton and Meister no longer work for the agency, Capt. Chris Hofford said Tuesday. The matter is under review by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for possible charges against the former officers.
The boy's attorney, Wesley Ouchi, praised Romero for taking a stand against police brutality.
"There are residents within small cities, such as Baldwin Park, who tend to live in constant fear of their local police departments," Ouchi said. "For this reason alone, Mr. Romero's lawsuit is quite significant to the community of Baldwin Park, since it represents a now 18-year-old kid who has bravely taken a stand against the local police department for violating his federal civil rights."
Beating followed traffic stop
The incident occurred shortly before 3 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2019, when Romero was in the back seat of a black Chrysler 300 traveling along Fairgrove Avenue in Baldwin Park. Another juvenile sat next to him and two other teens were in the front seats.
The driver of the Chrysler passed two police cruisers near the intersection of Frazier Street and Fairgrove, became frightened because he apparently did not have a driver's license and began to accelerate, according to the lawsuit. Felton and Officer Ernest Barrios, who were driving the two police cars, initiated a traffic stop and pulled the Chrysler over.
Meanwhile, Romero became frightened, jumped out of the vehicle near a rear alleyway in the 13000 block of Ramona Avenue, and encountered Felton, according to the lawsuit.
"Officer Ryan Felton, who observed plaintiff emerge from the automobile, unholstered his firearm, and aimed it at plaintiff through the window of his police cruiser," says the suit. "Seeing the officer draw his firearm caused plaintiff to begin running and Officer Ryan Felton exited his police cruiser and began chasing plaintiff on foot through the alleyway."
According to the complaint, Romero eventually stopped running and complied with Felton's commands to put his hands in the air, lay on the ground, and spread his arms and legs.
Felton, still holding his firearm, approached Romero "and kicked him, with force, in the ribs," the suit alleges. A terrified Romero "thought he was going to die," the suit claims.
Felton then proceeded to walk around Romero "and kick him square in the face. This gave plaintiff a black eye. It also bruised the entire side of plaintiff's face."
The incident reportedly was captured on surveillance video from a nearby business and collected by law enforcement.
The lawsuit also says Felton placed the handcuffed teen into the back of his police cruiser and, with his closed fist, struck him in the face and body and then slammed his face into the metal grate that separated the front and back seats of the patrol car.
The assault was witnessed by several Baldwin Park police officers who did not intervene, the suit states.
Alleged assault at police station
Back at Baldwin Park police headquarters, Romero was placed in a small room, where the suit claims he was ordered to sit on the floor facing the wall.
Meister entered the room and confronted Romero, saying, "So you are the little bitch that tried to run away," the suit claims. Then Meister, in the presence of other officers, allegedly struck Romero in the head with a closed fist
"There was no reason to use this level of physical force on plaintiff, who was restrained, detained, cooperative, compliant, non-resisting, non-threatening, and non-violent, and was sitting on the floor facing away from officers," the suit said.
Romero began to fall asleep and started resting his head against the wall, but was told by Meister to wake up and to not be "falling asleep in his house." Meister or possibly another unidentified officer then struck Romero several more times and threatened Romero, saying, "If I see you fall asleep again, I am going to f— you up more," according to the lawsuit.
Another officer, who was not identified, entered the room and asked Romero about a girl who had also been in the Chrysler. "Plaintiff responded that she was 16 years old," says the suit. The officer then told Romero that even though she was a minor that he would still have sex with her, the suit claims.
Romero was issued a citation following the incident but was not prosecuted, said Ouchi, who declined to elaborate.
Mom horrified by son's injuries
Angelica Estrada, who is Romero's mother, said Tuesday that she got a phone call from Felton about three hours after her son was detained telling her to come to the Baldwin Park police station. Estrada recalled that when she arrived, Felton took her into a break room and informed her that he had to "rough up" the boy a bit to "teach him a lesson."
Estrada, 37, was then taken to Romero, who stands about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and at the time weighed about 120 pounds, and found that had knots on his head, a black eye, and shoe prints presumably from Felton or another officer on his khaki pants.
"I just started crying because I had never seen my son beaten up before," said Estrada, who photographed his injuries. "It was a parent's worse nightmare. You would never think something like this could happen. Seeing how big the officers were I couldn't imagine it."
Estrada took Romero to Kaiser Permanente's Baldwin Park Medical Center, where he underwent a CT scan and X-ray which did not reveal any lingering injuries. The incident has changed Estrada and her son's perception of police officers.
"He learned the hard way," she said. "I don't understand why this happened because he wasn't a threat to anyone. I feel very different about law enforcement and never feared them before. Now when we see police officers we tense up."
Source: https://www.sgvtribune.com/2021/09/14/lawsuit-claims-teen-was-stomped-and-beaten-by-baldwin-park-police
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