Story Created:
Jul 30, 2009 at 11:20 AM PST
Story Updated:
Jul 30, 2009 at 11:20 AM PST
MONTEBELLO — A group of police officers has filed a $30 million claim against the city and its police chief.
The legal claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, accuses Police Chief Daniel Weast of being a racist, retaliating against officers who don’t support him and only promoting his “white friends” on the force. By law, the city has 45 days to respond to the claim before a lawsuit can be filed.
In addition to Weast, the claim lists police Lt. Don Ramos, City Administrator Richard Torres, Director of Personnel Haydee Sainz, Mayor Rosemarie Vasquez, Councilman Robert Urteaga, Councilwoman Kathy Salazar and Urteaga’s campaign manager John Edwards as defendants.
The claim was filed by attorney John Ramirez on behalf of 13 police officers, including Capt. Greg Wilsey, Lt. Brian Dragoo and Sgts. Randy Jaso, Ricardo Rojas, Kimberly Lundy, Robert Lindmayer, David Rodriguez and Andrew Vuncannon.
The claim accuses Weast, the former head of the Montebello Police Officers Association, of conspiring with City Council members Vasquez, Urteaga and Salazar to have the Police Officers Association endorse the three of them for City Council in 2007 in exchange for ousting then Police Chief Garry Couso-Vasquez and appointing Weast in his place.
The officers who filed the claim said they opposed the endorsement at the time and Weast told them “he would never forget their lack of support,” according to the claim.
Vasquez was re-elected to the council and Urteaga and Salazar won seats on the council in the November 2007 election. Prior to the end of 2007, according to the claim, Couso-Vasquez, who had recently agreed to a five-year contract extension, was forced to retire as chief due to medical reasons.
Plaintiffs Wilsey, Jaso and Dragoo were subsequently on the list of candidates to replace Couso-Vasquez, along with Weast, who the claim says did not meet minimum qualifications for the job.
The claim says Vasquez, Urteaga and Salazar went against the recommendation of a hiring committee and voted for Weast to become chief.
The 26-page claim goes on to list instances when the 13 complaining officers were retaliated against by Weast.
The city issued a press release denying the charges.
“We ask the public to keep in mind that there are two sides to every story and that the claims are simply allegations,” the release said. “The City Council supports Chief Weast and is concerned that the timing of the filing of the claims reflects that they are politically motivated.”
Salazar and Urteaga are currently being targeted for recall and the next City Council election is Nov. 3, although Vasquez, Urteaga and Salazar are not up for re-election.
Salazar sued Couso-Vasquez and the city in early 2007, before she was elected to the council, for violating her rights by removing her from the Police Department’s citizen patrol group after an opinion piece she wrote in a community newspaper was critical of the city for not investigating a resident’s complaint about being physically and verbally assaulted by employees of the firm that has the city’s towing contract.
The still-pending suit is expected to be settled next month with reports that Salazar will receive $130,000 from the city, $50,000 for her and $80,000 for her attorney.
The plaintiffs attorney, Ramirez, said the officers filed the claim because their attempts to resolve the matter were ignored by the city. He also was angry that Salazar referred to the 13 officers as “rogue cops” in an interview with the Whittier Daily News.
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