Deputy Takes Stand to Deny Role in Fatal Beating
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LOS ANGELES — Ventura Sheriff’s Deputy Donald Rodarte, accused of contributing to the 1997 beating death of a 21-year-old college student, took the stand Wednesday to deny ever striking a severely wounded Nicholas Dowey in the head with a flashlight during a raucous party.
Rodarte is one of several Ventura County deputies being sued in Los Angeles federal court by the parents of Dowey, who succumbed to extensive head trauma hours after being beaten by several assailants at the violent party and scuffling with two sheriff’s deputies.
The Doweys say deputies used excessive force and failed to get their son medical attention.
Eight deputies are named in the suit, but on Wednesday U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer granted a defense request to dismiss the case against three deputies: Ed Zaragosa, Landis Potter, and Gil White.
Before the trial began, Pfaelzer agreed to drop four other deputies, Ventura County, and the Sheriff’s Department as defendants.
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