The city of Torrance has paid a Redondo Beach man $750,000 after two city police officers allegedly spray-painted a swastika inside his car in 2020.
among Torrance police officers. The resulting scandal prompted prosecutors to toss dozens of felony cases.against the city and its Police Department. The alleged incident occurred after he and two other men were arrested on suspicion of mail theft from an apartment building.
The case was referred to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, which filed conspiracy and vandalism charges against Tomsic and Weldin, both of whom have left the force.In a comment provided to The Times through Steering, Swaine expressed disappointment that he was not told by Torrance police who vandalized his vehicle despite a promise that they would do so.
Despite filing the report about the vandalism less than two days after it occurred, Swaine was not notified about the case against Tomsic and Weldin until October 2021, after L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón announced the charges. “I have been suing police officers for 39 years and I have never seen anything like this,” Steering said in a statement. “It never ceases to amaze me that quite often the very people entrusted by our citizens to protect us from dangerous criminals are more dangerous than the criminals who they are supposed to be protecting us from.”