S.J. SETTLES POLICE BRUTALITY LAWSUIT
$390,000 FOR MAN WHOSE SKULL WAS FRACTURED

 San Jose Mercury News (CA)
February 26, 2003
Section: Front
Edition: Morning Final
Page: 1A

MIKE ZAPLER, Mercury News

San Jose officials agreed Tuesday to pay $390,000 to a Hayward man who suffered a fractured skull and broken arm at the hands of a San Jose police officer four years ago, ending a protracted civil rights lawsuit involving an officer at the center of several high-profile controversies.

Aaron A. Rivera filed the lawsuit in 1999 after he was beaten by officer Robert Reichert in what Rivera said was a case of mistaken identity. Reichert left the San Jose force in March after he was accused of threatening Santa Clara County Jail inmate DeShawn Campbell, who is awaiting trial on charges that he shot and killed a San Jose police officer in 2001. Reichert is now an officer with the Salinas Police Department.

The settlement was reached Monday, shortly before a federal trial was scheduled to begin on the lawsuit alleging excessive force, and approved by the San Jose City Council in closed session Tuesday morning. Rivera, a car salesman with a 17-month-old daughter, said he felt vindicated by the payment but is still angry.

''It's great to finally get through this,'' Rivera, 23, said. ''I've been going through four years of agony, knowing that someone got away with almost killing me.''

Police Chief Bill Lansdowne defended the level of force Reichert used and said the city attorney's office should not have settled.

''It was my position that we should have tried that case and we could have won it,'' Lansdowne said.

City Attorney Rick Doyle was less certain.

''It was really the blow to the head and the fracture that caused concern,'' Doyle said. ''Anyone would acknowledge that was a mistake. It was inadvertent but the fact is it happened.''

Salinas city officials reached Tuesday night said they were not familiar with Reichert's past, but plan to review his hiring.

''I was not aware of what officer Reichert may or may not have done in the city of San Jose,'' said Mayor Pro Tem Jyl Lutes. ''Certainly this is something we will look into.''

Salinas City Attorney Richard Nosky Jr. said he did not know what hiring procedures were followed. Salinas Police Chief Daniel M. Ortega was out of town Tuesday and could not be reached.

Two versions

Rivera's case stemmed from an incident on a busy night in downtown San Jose. Police were searching for a person who struck another man from behind and stole his jacket after a concert at HP Pavilion, then San Jose Arena. Rivera was on Santa Clara Street near Second Street, in town with friends for the Cinco de Mayo festival.

What happened next depends on the version of the story one believes. According to police, Reichert and officer Albert Valcarcel came upon Rivera, whom they believed to be the robber, and told him to stop. Police said Rivera was holding a long metal pipe and fled from the officers.

When the officers caught up with Rivera, police say, he fought them, at which point Reichert hit Rivera several times with a baton in an attempt to subdue him. Trying to hit Rivera in the arm with the baton, Rivera accidentally hit him in the head.

Rivera denied fighting the officers. He said he ran to avoid being stampeded by a crowd of people rushing toward him on Santa Clara Street and might not have heard them over crowd noise. He also denied carrying a pipe, which police never recovered.

Rivera never became a suspect in the coat theft. A jury acquitted him on charges of unlawful assembly and carrying an illegal weapon and deadlocked on the question of whether he resisted arrest. He was found guilty of fleeing from police, and served 45 days of community service, paid a $1,000 fine, and was put on three years' probation.

Rivera underwent cranial surgery to relieve pressure on the brain and said he still has chronic migraines.

''I feel like I'm in my 40s when I'm in my mid-20s,'' Rivera said.

Other controversies

Reichert, 34, was involved in several controversies during his decade with the San Jose Police Department. In 1997, he was cleared in the fatal shooting of an armed motorist, David Lee Hamilton, who had been stopped on Capitol Expressway.

And last year, Reichert gained attention for allegedly threatening revenge against Campbell. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the officer after wrestling with a decision for several weeks. Days before the announcement that he would not face criminal charges, Reichert resigned.

Rick Callender, president of the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP, brought the Campbell incident to light and was outraged to hear that Reichert is working as a Salinas police officer.

''This guy has proven to be dangerous,'' Callender said. ''There is no way he should be a police officer anywhere in our nation.''

As part of the settlement, the city and the other officer, Valcarcel, were cleared of any liability in the case.

Randall Scarlett, Rivera's attorney, said that, based on his research, the settlement was the largest in San Jose history in a case involving excessive force by police that did not result in death. Doyle said he could not confirm that.

Copyright (c) 2003 San Jose Mercury News