Officer, jailers cleared of using force

Greg Risling

Two jailers and a Newport Beach police officer were cleared of wrongdoing

late Thursday when a civil jury decided they did not break the arm of a

53-year-old woman.

It took less than six hours for the 12-member panel to vindicate the

three Newport Beach employees. The jury voted 9-3 in favor of the

officers, who were being sued by Laura Rooney, daughter-in-law of actor

Mickey Rooney.

Rooney claimed police pushed her against a wall and broke her arm during

a Sept. 2, 1997, narcotics-related arrest.

Called to testify in the trial, Rooney sobbed when she watched a

videotape of the confrontation where it appears she resisted the

officers’ attempts to handcuff her. The three men, Officer Spencer Arnold

and jailers Troy Long and Tim Stewart, refuted her claims that they used

excessive force while attempting to take her to Orange County Jail.

“The jury found she had zero credibility,” said defense attorney Bruce

Praet. “There is no question there was a serious broken bone. But the

question is, how it was broken?”

Rooney contended that she didn’t go quietly because her wrists were

swollen from previously being placed in handcuffs. Her attorney, Garo

Mardirossian, said his client was cornered in a waiting room by the

officers, who pinned her arm behind her back and lifted it upward.

The officers maintain they followed standard procedures and that Rooney

broke her arm while she was resisting arrest.

Perhaps the most damaging evidence against Rooney was herself. In a sworn

deposition, Rooney told attorneys she had trouble moving her arm and had

permanent nerve damage from the injury. Although graphic photos showing

her badly bruised arm were displayed in court, Rooney was not aware that

she was under surveillance after the incident.

A handful of videotapes show Rooney brushing her hair, stuffing envelopes

and opening a mailbox with her left arm. When confronted in court, she

said her arm was better when she received her medication.

“She thought she could scam some money out of the city of Newport Beach,”

Praet said. “But the jury wasn’t going to let that happen.”

Mardirossian couldn’t be reached for comment late Thursday. He said

previously that Rooney could seek up to six figures in compensation for

loss of employment, medical bills and emotional distress.

Rooney was arrested by Newport Beach police when they found one gram of

crack cocaine in the trailer home where she lived. She pleaded guilty and

was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years’ probation, although she

maintains the drugs weren’t hers.

Thursday’s decision was the second time in recent weeks in which the

police department has claimed victory in abuse cases. The city agreed to

pay $10,000 earlier this month to an Orange County prosecutor who claimed

he was assaulted by police officers after leaving a Newport Boulevard

bar. The plaintiff originally sought $600,000, but settled for the lesser

amount.