Officers Racially Harassed Them, Black Family Claims : Police: $3 million is being sought by six who claim that excessive force was used after they were mistaken for criminals.

NEWPORT BEACH —  Members of a black family have filed racial harassment claims for $3 million against the city Police Department, contending that officers improperly detained and manhandled them because they suspected the group of planning a robbery.

Euralis Lord-Butcher of Corona del Mar said she and five members of her family were subjected to racist treatment and excessive force by officers who stopped her red Acura on Coast Highway between Newport Center Drive and Avocado Avenue on the afternoon of July 26.

Newport Beach police said they handled the incident properly.

“We categorically deny that race had anything to do with the stop and that excessive force was used,” Sgt. Andy Gonis said.

In a claim filed against the city of Newport Beach on Wednesday, Lord-Butcher said 12 to 14 officers stopped her car, drew their guns and ordered her and her relatives to get out.

“My hands were roughly pulled behind my back, yanked upward and my head and neck were roughly bent forward,” she said. “I was then violently handcuffed. . . .

“The actions of the police appeared to be racially motivated. I am a black woman and all of the passengers, my sister, her husband and three children, in my vehicle are black.”

She said the family was detained “without probable cause” for more than 45 minutes. Her purse was searched, and when she got home she discovered $300 missing, Lord-Butcher said in the claim. Police deny taking the money.

Each of the six people in the car seeks $500,000 in damages for emotional distress, pain and suffering. Lord-Butcher said she suffered pain to her arm, shoulder and neck and has required medical treatment and psychological counseling. Two other family members reported pain from the officers’ alleged handling of them; all complained of mental anguish.

Lord-Butcher’s brother-in-law, Albert Ferdinand, said he was handcuffed and thrown to the ground so roughly that his dentures fell out and broke. His wife, Gris Ferdinand, said she was shoved onto her knees and her purse was torn from her neck so that her shoulder was injured.

“I was horrified to see my entire family abused and humiliated by the police,” said Albert Ferdinand Jr., Lord-Butcher’s nephew.

The documents name six of the 12 to 14 officers that the family claims were at the scene, but Gonis said the list was not completely correct. He would not identify which officers participated in the stop, but said that fewer than a dozen were there.

The incident began, Gonis said, when a jeweler who had been robbed recently noticed a few people browsing in his store while others waited near a red Acura outside. Then they all left suddenly. Fearful that they were “casing” his store to rob it later, the merchant telephoned police about 12:30 p.m. with the car’s description and a partial license plate number.

Minutes later, a plainclothes officer saw the car and noted that it lacked a front license plate, Gonis said. When he checked the rear plate and found it registered to a Toyota, he became suspicious, since it is common practice for criminals to change the license plate of a car before using it for an illegal purpose, Gonis said.

The plainclothes officer called for assistance, deciding that he and his colleagues would order the occupants from the car at gunpoint, Gonis said.

Once the car was stopped and the driver and passengers had gotten out, officers realized that the frame around the license plate had obscured the lower half of one of the letters of the plate, making an I appear to be a T, Gonis said. Checked with the correct letter, the plate came back registered to the Acura.

Deciding the six were not “involved in any crime,” the officers released them, Gonis said. He noted that they had not been arrested and said that they were detained for about 30 minutes, not the 45-plus minutes they stated in their claims.

Although the officers’ suspicions based on the purportedly switched license plate were unfounded, Gonis said, they did stop “the right car,” because the Acura had been at the jewelry store.

Newport Beach City Atty. Robert H. Burnham said none of the officers named in the complaints has been cited in any other claim for damages in at least the last three years.