Suit Accuses Police of Excessive Force

An Oxnard man filed suit Monday against the city of Oxnard and two of its police officers, accusing them of breaking his arm and falsely arresting him while he was scavenging for aluminum cans.

The lawsuit contends that Officers Tyson Hardman and Roger Whitney used excessive force against Frank Montes, 33, and asks each officer to pay him more than $25,000 in damages.

The lawsuit was filed in Ventura County Superior Court more than four months after the Oxnard City Council rejected a claim making the same allegations.

In the lawsuit, Montes contends that he was picking up cans on St. Lucia Avenue near Cordova Street in May, 1991, when he saw Hardman and Whitney. He ran, fearing mistreatment or an improper search, and the officers chased him, the suit says.

When the officers caught up to him, one of them said, “I’m going to get you for running,” the suit says.

After breaking his arm, the same officer said, “Run again and I’ll break the other one,” the suit says.

Montes’ lawyer, Bill Jarrico of Ojai, said Montes was arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine and was imprisoned.

Montes received no medical care before being released an hour later, the suit says.

“Montes believes he was released because the Oxnard Police Department didn’t want to pay to attend to his injuries,” the suit says.

Police Chief Robert P. Owens was unavailable for comment, and Mayor Nao Takasugi declined to comment.