By Allison Sampite-Montecalvo
CHULA VISTA — The city of Chula
Vista has agreed to pay $125,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a Navy surgeon
who said a city police officer beat him as he was leaving a concert.
Dr. Eric Harris, chief spinal
surgeon at Naval Medical Center San Diego, said Officer Fred Krafft beat him
Oct. 16, 2008, following a Jimmy Buffett performance at what was then called
the Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre.
“The city’s decision to settle
the case was a business decision based on the city’s interest in managing the
significant costs and inherent risks in litigation,” city officials said in a
statement released Friday.
The parties agreed to the
settlement Dec. 24 and have jointly filed in court for dismissal of the case.
The Harris family filed the
suit in federal court in October 2009, stating that as concertgoers were
leaving a traffic-jammed parking lot Harris got out of his car to help create a
space to merge.
Harris’ wife, May, said in the
lawsuit that Krafft yelled at Harris to get back into his SUV. Harris began
walking back to his car but muttered a curse word under his breath.
The lawsuit alleges Krafft then
came up behind Harris and slammed his face into the window of his SUV several
times while his children watched from the back seat.
Harris was arrested on
suspicion of being drunk in public and resisting arrest. His attorney, Mary
Frances Prevost, said the District Attorney's Office did not file charges
against Harris.
Weeks after the incident, Harris
was diagnosed with depression and severe post-traumatic stress disorder because
of the incident, according to the lawsuit. He was later deployed to
Afghanistan.
In addition, Prevost has said
Harris was denied a promotion, lost $200,000 in outside work because of his
injuries and would incur at least $60,000 in medical bills.
A spokesman for the Police
Department said Krafft’s actions were “appropriate and justified.”
Prevost said four witnesses
came forward to corroborate Harris' story, saying Harris did nothing to cause
Krafft to attack him.
City officials said the
incident was caused “by the plaintiff’s own negligence, fault, reckless or
unlawful conduct,” according to court documents.
The case had been set to go to
trial last year.
Capt. Gary Ficacci said Krafft
remains on the police force. Krafft has been a Chula Vista officer for 11
years.
“We are still confident that
our officer at all times acted in an appropriate manner,” Ficacci said.
Court documents show that in
2009, the city of Chula Vista and the Chula Vista Police Department settled a
lawsuit filed by Felix Espino, who alleged excessive use of force by Krafft and
other officers before and after they arrested him. The case was settled for
$85,000.
Krafft was not placed on leave
following the incident involving Harris.
“We thoroughly investigate any
and all allegations of misconduct of any employees and like many cases where
there’s an allegation of wrongdoing in the department we examined what officer
Krafft did,” Ficacci said.
In 2008, Prevost sued the city
in federal court on behalf of Christian Morales, a former Otay Ranch High
School student who said Chula Vista police beat him and knocked him unconscious
in his driveway after mistaking him for a thief.
The city paid $400,000 to
settle that lawsuit.