Manhattan Beach pays $175,000
in sex sting settlement
Manhattan Beach pays $175,000
in sex sting settlement by Carley Dryden
The city of Manhattan Beach
will pay an Eagle Scout $175,000 for wrongfully arresting him during a police
sex sting operation targeting gay men in a beach bathroom in 2012.
Charles Samuel Couch, 23, who
was branded a suspected sex offender when the city released his name and photo
to the news media, reached the settlement of a federal lawsuit with the city
and its Police Department last week. Couch was seeking $5 million for
discrimination, false arrest and violation of civil rights.
The city’s police chief also
agreed to expunge Couch’s arrest record.
A caregiver for a mentally
disabled boy at the time, Couch was forced to drop out of college because of
the incident and subsequent investigation. Hoping to escape the negative stigma
and legal tussles, Couch moved to the East Coast, where he is now attending
Cornell University, aiming to follow in his father’s footsteps with a job in
the defense industry.
“This is a relief off of his
shoulders,” said Couch’s attorney, Albro Lundy. “He no longer has to be concerned
when he fills out a job application. You won’t get hired if you have an arrest
record. It’s gone now. That is the best part about this.”
At the time of the March 2012
incident, the Hawthorne man was working for Cambrian Homecare of Long Beach,
providing care for a boy with Prader-Willi syndrome, a genetic disorder
characterized by cognitive disabilities and incomplete sexual development.
For Couch, the job was an
extension of his Eagle Scout project to help handicapped children get proper
exercise and explore the world, Lundy said last week. He met the boy and the
boy’s parents through church at Hope Chapel, Lundy said.
The day of the incident, Couch
was on an afternoon walk with the boy in Manhattan Beach when the boy told
Couch he needed to use the restroom. They headed toward the beach bathroom at
Marine Avenue and The Strand. Unknown to Couch, Manhattan Beach police officers
were conducting a sting operation targeting gay males who had been meeting up
in the bathroom, publicized on the Internet as a popular spot for sex.
As an expert later testified,
because of his condition, the boy frequently spent a long time using the
restroom, so Couch sat down on a bench in the changing area while the boy was
in the stall farthest from the entrance.
According to the lawsuit,
Detective John Nasori entered the restroom in plain clothes, said “hello” to
Couch and entered the middle stall. A few minutes later, the child bolted from
the stall, telling Couch, “There is a man looking at me in the stall.”
Horrified, Couch told the boy to keep walking and they exited the bathroom.
Couch was then confronted by
five detectives in plain clothes, “resembling thugs,” according to the suit.
Presuming they wanted to kidnap the boy, Couch grabbed him to protect him.
Couch was then tackled, choked and handcuffed, according to the lawsuit, and
did not realize the men were police officers until he was taken to jail.
Although Couch was detained and
then released due to insufficient evidence for a criminal complaint, his
attorneys said, the police kept his laptop containing all of his coursework for
months, forcing him to drop out of El Camino College.
Officers arrested 18 men during
the weekslong sting, and a month after Couch was detained, the department
released booking photographs of each man, along with their names and dates of
birth. Couch was stunned to discover his photo and name included in the release
and publicized across the nation.
“Couch was never arrested or
charged with any of those crimes the other men were charged with,” Lundy said.
“The flier that went out said he was, and it was an official flier from the
city of Manhattan Beach.”
Months later, Couch was charged
with two misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and assaulting a police
officer, allegations that were later dismissed.
“(The charges) were
retaliatory. The (city) knew they had done something wrong and, rather than
wait to get sued, they took the first shot over the bow,” Lundy said.
The incident left an indelible
mark on Couch—a soiled reputation, lost job, compromised future.
Before a lawsuit was filed,
Couch’s attorney asked the city to destroy the arrest record and declare him
factually innocent, but the city refused.
“The city of Manhattan Beach
denied that they made any mistake whatsoever,” Lundy said. “They felt they were
righteous in their arrest and the charges against Sam. It took a while to
convince them otherwise. That’s also why he brought the suit, for the public
benefit. The Manhattan Beach Police Department needs to evaluate how they
conduct their business and make sure they don’t do the same mistakes again.”
The city of Manhattan Beach’s
legal team did not respond to requests for comment.
As part of the settlement, the
police chief agreed to seal and destroy Couch’s adult arrest records, Lundy
said.
“It’s relatively unheard of
that a chief of police will sign a petition to seal and destroy adult arrest
records,” Lundy said. “It shows that the city wanted to compensate and correct
the errors and let Sam move on with his life.”
Lundy said Couch believes the
$175,000 compensation is a “fair and just resolution” to the damages he
suffered.
“This is an excellent way to
fund the rest of his college education,” he said.
