Officer appeals firing

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The city has decided to fight a court ruling that

favored a city jail detention officer who was fired after he allegedly

assaulted his estranged wife when he found her in bed with another man.

Frank Opp, 35, is seeking reinstatement. He was let go from his position

with the Police Department in June 1994, after an internal investigation

into the incident was completed.

In the ruling, Superior Court Judge Phillip A. Petty said any penalty

short of discharge would have been appropriate, and he ordered the city’s

Personnel Commission to reconsider the case.

But the city stands by the department’s decision to fire him.

“He should be held accountable for his conduct,” City Councilman Tom

Harman said.

Court records describe the events of April 1994: Opp became enraged when

he found his estranged wife in bed with another man who Opp threw out of

the apartment. He choked the woman on the bed and yelled that he should

kill her. When he left the apartment, she went to a nearby convenience

store and dialed 911.

An internal investigation led Huntington Beach Police Chief Ron Lowenberg

to fire Opp in June 1994. Administrative hearings upheld his firing, and

Opp took the case to court. His attorney, Joe Straka, agrees with Petty’s

ruling that his client should be reinstated.

Although Petty said in his May 10 ruling that Opp’s conduct was

“egregious,” he said the officer’s off-duty behavior didn’t relate

closely enough to his job duties at the jail and that he should not have

been fired.

But Deputy City Atty. Scott Field said detention officers have to show

self-control because they are authorized to apply force against unruly

inmates.

Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Janet Perez, who worked with Opp, said she

never witnessed any inappropriate behavior while Opp was on the job.

The appeal may take three years to resolve, Field said.