Two people are suing Modesto in separate lawsuits claiming they were roughed up by police while being arrested at downtown clubs.
One case centers on Wendell Jamon Jones, a San Jose attorney, who says police used excessive force to arrest him as he left a 10th Street club as the 2005 X-Clamation Festival wound down. His case heads to trial May 4 at the U.S. District Court in Fresno.
The other comes from Margaret Shepherd, a Stockton mother who was caught up in an altercation at another 10th Street bar while she celebrated her son's 21st birthday in January 2007. Her case is moving through the same court.
The city says Jones and Shepherd resisted arrest and that police acted within the scope of their authority.
"The city's position has been that there was probable cause to arrest in both cases, and any force that was used was lawful and reasonable," said Jim Wilson, Modesto senior deputy city attorney.
Jones and Shepherd are seeking seven-figure payouts in punitive damages. The cases highlight the city's liability in policing downtown clubs.
"When you're dealing with people under the influence of alcoholic beverages, they become unpredictable," said police Sgt. Brian Findlen, department spokesman, who was speaking in general terms.
Jones, 39, says that police acted inappropriately while trying to empty out the Palladium nightclub in the early hours of July 24, 2005. He was there with friends after watching performances at the outdoor X-Fest.
By his telling, and accounts from a bouncer and four other witnesses, police aggressively sought to clear out the bar about 1:30 a.m. Jones and the witnesses say he was talking with a bouncer and not drinking when then-police Sgt. Adam McGill struck him. Jones contends he put his hands in the air and said, "What did I do? I didn't do anything."
Hit in the abdomen, leg
Officers counter that they were moving patrons out of the club and perceived Jones as not complying with their requests. They say Jones pushed McGill first, though Jones' friends wrote they didn't see that.
Officers struck Jones in the abdomen and on his right leg with a flashlight and baton when they determined he was resisting arrest.
A key piece of evidence in the trial is expected to be a video of the incident taken from inside the club. Jones was charged with misdemeanor offenses of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. In August 2007, he pleaded no contest to an infraction of fighting in a public place.
He contends that the incident left him unable to work in his practice as a patent attorney, costing him $200,000 while he recovered. He's seeking an additional $2 million in punitive damages.
"Before this incident, Jones had a zero criminal record," said his attorney, Anthony Harris. "This guy was like a monk. It was an anomaly that his friends would drag him out. After the situation, he was really a monk. He didn't want to go out. He was nervous around any police officer."
Palladium owner Rudy Baca declined to comment. He appeared frustrated with police in a witness statement he wrote shortly after the incident because of the manner in which officers sought to close his club early that night.
Shepherd has dropped some of her original claims against the city, focusing on her assertion that two officers used excessive force when they arrested her at the Copper Rhino bar Jan. 14, 2007.
She says police broke her ribs when they sought to subdue her after she attempted to find out why one of her son's friends was ejected from the club by a bouncer. She is seeking $1 million in damages.
Shepherd's attorney did not return calls for comment.
Wilson succeeded in his most recent defense of a lawsuit against the Modesto Police Department. A jury a year ago held that police were not liable in the death of Sammy Galvan, who was shot eight times when officers responded to a domestic dispute at his home in 2004.
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