Polio Victim Claims Bias by Restaurant

A polio victim filed suit Wednesday against the owners of a Boyle Heights restaurant claiming that his civil rights were violated when employees allegedly refused to serve him a beer because he is disabled.

Adolfo Pena, 26, who uses crutches to walk, also claimed in his suit that security guards at the three-restaurant complex inside El Mercado de Los Angeles shopping center roughed him up and took away his crutches, causing him to fall, after he refused to pay his $16 bill and walked outside to call police.

“I was told the restaurant had a policy not to serve to invalidos ,” Pena said, using the Spanish word for crippled. “I was embarrassed and humiliated because everyone in the restaurant heard (the dispute). ... Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”

Pena’s attorney, Gloria Allred, called the alleged policies at La Perla, El Gallo, and El Terasco restaurants inside the mall “callous, unacceptable and unlawful.” The Los Angeles Superior Court civil suit seeks a change in restaurant practices and unspecified monetary damages.

Pedro M. Rosado, the shopping center and restaurant owner, was unavailable to comment. But his wife, Mercedes, denied that such a policy existed and said she was unaware of the Aug. 5 incident involving Pena.

“The only time we deny service is when some one has had too much to drink,” she told reporters. “We don’t refuse to serve because someone is crippled.”

Pena, who works in admissions at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Los Angeles, told a different story.

Pena said he and a friend were drawn to the restaurant by afternoon mariachi music and slipped into a booth. Pena said he pushed his crutches beneath the table, and they were hidden from view. The pair then ordered two beers and food. During the meal, Pena said, he moved his aluminum crutches, leaning them upright against the booth where they were in public view.

“When I ordered a second beer the waitress told me it wasn’t their policy to serve crippled people because we might be on medication,” Pena told a press conference Wednesday in front of the restaurant.

Pena said he became enraged and refused to pay the bill. He said he demanded to speak to the owner and asked the waitress to call police. After waiting a half hour with no response, Pena said he stepped outside to call police himself.

It was then that security guards stopped him, took away his crutches and “threw me in an elevator like a bag of potatoes,” he said. Pena said he was taken to an office and, while waiting for police to arrive, the guards taunted him and played with his crutches, pretending they were handicapped.

“The police told me to pay my bill and hire an lawyer,” he said.