City to pay $10K in police lawsuit

-- Greg Risling

The city of Newport Beach will pay $10,000 to an Orange County deputy

district attorney who allege police used excessive force in an incident

at a bar two years ago.

The settlement was reached just before the civil trial was scheduled to

begin. Prosecutor Edward Flores claims he was assaulted by Newport Beach

police because he is Latino.

Flores was walking behind a white, female prosecutor on Newport Boulevard

on Aug. 14, 1998, when two police officers approached him, reportedly on

suspicion of public drunkenness. One of the officers said he would be

placed under arrest.

Flores, who admitted he had been drinking, didn’t immediately comply

while officers tried to put handcuffs on him. Flores said he was put in a

choke hold and doused with pepper spray.

Flores initially sought $600,000 for false arrest, civil rights

violations and excessive force. In the end, the 35-year-old prosecutor

settled on a lesser amount.

Attorney Peter Ferguson, who represented the city, believed the officers

would have prevailed if the jury heard all of the evidence. He said the

outcome was good for both the police department and the district

attorney’s office.

“They will continue to have a good working relationship with each other,”

he said.