Judge Dismisses Charges Against Principal in Scuffle : Courts: Jury deadlocks over allegations that administrator assaulted man during dispute over distributing leaflets near El Rancho High School campus.

WHITTIER —  A Whittier Municipal Court commissioner has dismissed charges against David J. Verdugo, a high school principal accused of attacking a man in a dispute over flyers, after a jury failed to reach a verdict.

Verdugo, the principal of El Rancho High School, was charged with misdemeanor battery after he forced Michael Acosta, 20, to the ground outside the school during the dispute. Commissioner Louis E. Head Jr. dismissed the charges when the jury informed him that they could not reach a verdict after two days of deliberations.

Both sides have agreed that the case would not be retried.

Verdugo, 42, said he was wrongly accused of battery as a result of the Feb. 9 incident.

“It’s very good news,” Verdugo said of the commissioner’s decision. “There was never any question from anyone, from my superiors that I did the right thing.”

During the trial, his attorney, Michael Mayock, argued that Verdugo restrained Acosta because the youth was disrupting students by passing out flyers. Verdugo was making a citizen’s arrest and exercised a reasonable amount of force, Mayock said, citing state education codes that allow school administrators to protect schools from disruption by outsiders.

Acosta was disappointed in the commissioner’s decision but will not pursue the matter, he said.

“It’s not like I was out to destroy him,” he said. “I just wanted him to know he can’t do that again to anybody, to take the law into his own hands.”

Supt. John T. Sherman said he and other school officials believe Verdugo’s actions were justified.

“There was never any question of support (for Verdugo), regardless of the outcome,” Sherman said. Verdugo will remain in the job he has held for more than four years, he said.

Verdugo graduated from El Rancho High School and has worked for the El Rancho Unified School District for more than 21 years.

During the six-day trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Hale characterized Verdugo as an abusive administrator who had stepped beyond his authority and overreacted in restraining Acosta.

Acosta said he was on the sidewalk outside school grounds passing out flyers advertising T-shirts and other products sold by his family’s Pico Rivera video store. A school official seized the leaflets so Acosta confronted Verdugo and three other administrators, demanding that they be returned. Verdugo refused.

Verdugo ordered Acosta to leave the area, then grabbed the youth and forced him to the ground near the car of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who patrols the area and had responded.

The principal searched Acosta, seized some stickers and forced him inside the patrol car. The deputy did not make any arrests. Verdugo was charged in connection with the case in April after Acosta complained to the Sheriff’s Department.

Verdugo said he will continue to warn outsiders to stay away from the campus.

“I personally have not stopped patrolling or being visible,” he said. “I still believe I have a clear obligation to my students and community to provide a safe and secure campus.”