Another Burbank police lawsuit

DOWNTOWN — A seventh member of the Burbank Police Department has filed a lawsuit against the city and members of the department in federal court, alleging that his civil rights were violated by a rogue group of cops who used intimidation, harassment and brutality to keep him and witnesses from talking about several misconduct investigations.

Burbank Police Det. Angelo Dahlia alleges that high-ranking members of the department investigating the 2007 robbery of Porto’s Bakery assaulted and beat witnesses and suspects “under the color of authority,” according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. Central District Court.

The filing marks the fifth suit by a total of eight current and former officers. The plaintiffs’ claims span the gamut, from racial discrimination to retaliation, unlawful demotions to firings.

Dahlia’s claims are a new set of allegations related to cases already being investigated, city spokesman Keith Sterling said in a statement Thursday. As with all serious charges, it is important for the investigations to be completed, he said.

Dahlia was called in on the morning of Dec. 29, 2007, and advised to conduct the investigation into the robbery, according to the lawsuit. After several suspects were brought into the station, he allegedly witnessed Lt. Omar Rodriguez place the barrel of his handgun under a suspect’s eye and threaten him. Dahlia alleges that the lieutenant had a reputation for illegal and corrupt practices.

Solomon E. Gresen, Rodriguez’s attorney, said in a statement Friday that the allegations were “categorically untrue.”

“The current lawsuit brought by Angelo Dahlia is the latest incident in a long string of retaliatory conduct against Rodriguez, and seems designed specifically to discredit Rodriguez and to detract from the claims of Rodriguez and Officers Steve Karagiosian, Jamal Childs, Elfago Rodriguez, Cindy Guillen-Gomez and Christopher Dunn,” said Gresen, who represents the officers in three lawsuits against the city.

Rodriguez and five other high-ranking members of the department, including Police Chief Tim Stehr, are named as defendants in Dahlia’s lawsuit. Stehr this month announced plans to retire effective Dec. 31.

When Dahlia complained of brutality and witness intimidation, he was told to “stop his sniveling,” and was later intimidated with a brandished gun, the lawsuit states.