$2.5 Million Awarded to Officer in False Arrest by Police in Fontana

SANTA ANA —  A federal jury has awarded more than $2.5 million to a Riverside police officer who said he had been harassed and physically abused by six Fontana police officers, the man’s attorney said Wednesday.

The U.S. District Court jury found that Vernon Bryant of Riverside had his constitutional rights violated when he was arrested in December, 1988, on suspicion of delaying and resisting a police officer, according to John Vandevelde, Bryant’s attorney.

During the arrest, one officer apparently kneed Bryant in the groin so hard that a testicle later had to be surgically removed, Vandevelde said.

The arrest stemmed from an argument between Bryant and Fontana Police Sgt. Robert Edmonson over an impounded car that Bryant was trying to recover for a friend, Vandevelde said.

During the argument, which occurred at the Fontana police station, the men exchanged hostile words, he said.

Bryant left the station without the car. As he was driving out of the city, Bryant was pulled over by Edmonson and five other officers, the attorney said. The argument between Bryant and Edmonson continued, and Bryant was arrested.

Bryant was charged with delaying and resisting a police officer but was acquitted by a jury.

In his civil rights lawsuit, Bryant alleged that the officers falsely arrested him, used excessive force and had him maliciously prosecuted.

The jury, which deliberated less than two days after the six-day trial, ruled Monday in Bryant’s favor. The jurors awarded him $250,000 for the false arrest, $500,000 for the excessive force and $1.5 million for the malicious prosecution. He was also awarded $300,000 in punitive damages.