Ex-Palmdale apartment manager who sued sheriff's department awarded $6K in punitive damages

LOS ANGELES - A former Palmdale apartment manager who said he was punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed without provocation in a confrontation with sheriff's deputies received an additional $6,000 in punitive damages in addition to $575,000 awarded two days earlier by the same jury.

The Los Angeles Superior Court panel deliberated for about 1 1/2 hours Friday before assessing the damages in favor of Noel Bender and against Deputy Scott Sorrow.

The panel concluded Wednesday that the 30-year-old plaintiff was a victim of false arrest, battery, civil rights violations and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jurors also found that Sorrow acted with malice, triggering the second phase of the trial to determine whether punitive damages should be assessed against him.

"Justice often prevails and it did in this case," attorney Bradley Gage said on behalf of Bender. "Mr. Bender was an innocent man who should never have been arrested. The beating he received was unjustified and violated his civil rights."

Two other deputies, Ray Hicks and Omar Chavez, were exonerated.

Bender filed suit last July over the Aug. 26, 2009, run-in with the deputies at the apartment complex he managed at 933 E. Avenue Q4. He said the trouble began after he offered to clean up glass from a bottle broken by one of his tenants.

Bender also maintained that deputies had been harassing his tenants since one of their fellow deputies was shot in the shoulder outside the complex on July

12, 2009. The shooter was later arrested and did not live at the complex, according to the lawsuit.

Gage said that in addition to being roughed up, his client -- who like Sorrow is white -- was called a "n-word lover" by Sorrow. Gage said the remark was in reference to the many black residents of the 26-unit complex.

"We hope the Sheriff's Department will review its policies and procedures to avoid a similar tragedy in the future," Gage said.

Bender was tried and acquitted of resisting arrest and no longer manages the apartment complex, Gage said.

Defense attorney Harold Becks, who is black, denied Sorrow was overly aggressive or that the deputy used racial slurs. He said Sorrow is married to a black woman.

Sorrow had already responded to a previous call at the complex and deputies went there a total of three times that day, answering complaints that tenants were playing loud music, using drugs and drinking alcohol to excess, Becks said.

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18315545?source=rss

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