Driver Says Deputy Took Aim at Him With a Gun

School security guard Nathan Cebrun has been shot twice: once as an infantry medic in Vietnam and years later by a teen-age thief in a Los Angeles parking lot.

So when a driver pointed a .38-caliber revolver at his face Saturday in Artesia as he and his cousin were cruising in Cebrun’s new convertible Cadillac, Cebrun wasn’t about to make it No. 3: He hit the brakes and ducked.

As his alleged assailant drove away in a Chevy Blazer, Cebrun glimpsed its license plate number and called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

But Cebrun said that when the license plate was traced to Rick L. McClung--a sheriff’s deputy--another deputy who took the report told him to forget it, that the case would probably go nowhere.

“I intend it to go somewhere,� said Cebrun, 42, who contacted several Los Angeles newspapers and television stations to complain of what he said was a cover-up. “I’m not going to accept an apology because if I had been the one who pulled a gun, I’d be in jail right now.�

On Tuesday, sheriff’s officials insisted they were investigating the incident.

They contend that it was Cebrun who prompted the confrontation with McClung and that the deputy armed himself, fearing he might become the latest victim in a spate of motoring violence that has plagued Los Angeles drivers in recent months.

McClung could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Deputy’s Version

However, a sheriff’s press release based on McClung’s version of the incident states that he was on his way home from a softball tournament “when a man driving a Cadillac with tinted, closed windows tried several times to pass the deputy on the right.�

After McClung made “numerous lane changes in order to allow (Cebrun) to pass,� Cebrun passed in the left lane, slowed down and then “began pointing at (McClung) with what appeared to have been a handgun.�

McClung then reached for a revolver and “readied himself for an attack,� the report states.

“As the decrease in Cebrun’s speed caused the two cars to draw abreast of each other, McClung pointed his revolver at Cebrun and looked through the now-open passenger window of Cebrun’s car. As he did this, the deputy saw no weapon, but he did see Cebrun’s hand raised in the formation of an obscene gesture.�

Denies Making Gesture

Cebrun, a security officer at Artesia High School, said he made no such gesture. In fact, about the only aspect of the incident upon which he and the Sheriff’s Department agree is where it occurred--on northbound Pioneer Boulevard near the Artesia Freeway.

Cebrun said he and his cousin, Derrick Arnold, were on their way to a football game at Cerritos College when they tried to pass the slow-moving McClung, 28, a five-year Sheriff’s Department veteran.

“I guess this guy didn’t want me to get in front, and he kept moving in front of me every time I changed lanes,� Cebrun said. “We finally get next to him and I rolled down my window to ask him what seemed to be the problem, and he points a silver-barreled .38 in my face. He didn’t say anything and then, after we ducked and I slammed on the brakes, he takes off.

“I don’t know about you, but I get pretty leery when somebody points a gun at me,� Cebrun noted.

Called Sheriff’s Department

Cebrun said that he and Arnold forgot the football game and drove to Cebrun’s home two blocks away to notify the Sheriff’s Department’s Lakewood station. Deputy Curtis Soares was dispatched to take a report.

Cebrun said he gave Soares the Blazer’s license plate number and the deputy made a telephone check of California vehicle registration records. Afterward, according to Cebrun, Soares said, “We’ve got a problem; this guy’s a deputy sheriff� assigned to the Firestone station.

Soares then telephoned a lieutenant at Firestone, who asked to speak with Cebrun.

“The lieutenant was very apologetic and said he wanted to meet with me the next day, but I decided not to because you don’t know what they would do,� Cebrun said.

Before leaving Cebrun’s home on Saturday, Soares allegedly advised him, “Why don’t you guys just forget this, because this isn’t going anywhere anyway.� Soares did not answer telephone messages left by The Times at the Lakewood station.

Cebrun, meanwhile, remained adamant Tuesday that McClung was at fault and that the Sheriff’s Department was trying to protect one of its own.

“I’m not ever going to forget this,� he said.