Pair Beaten by Deputies to Get $740,000

Riverside County has agreed to pay a $740,000 settlement to two Mexican citizens who were clubbed by deputies in a notorious videotaped beating that followed an 80-mile chase of a pickup truck filled with suspected illegal immigrants.

Alicia Sotero Vasquez and Enrique Funes Flores will each receive $370,000 under the terms of the settlement. The April 1996 case drew international attention and was seen by many in Mexico as symbolic of the abuse suffered by their compatriots at the hands of authorities in the United States.

“I am happy this part has been resolved justly,” Funes said in Spanish at a news conference Friday announcing the settlement. “The humiliation that we suffered is something that cannot be paid back.”

The videotape, shot by helicopter news crews, showed Sotero getting out of the pickup truck and being hit twice by a deputy in the back. She was then pulled to the ground by her hair. One other deputy struck her once with a baton.

Funes, who had jumped out of the back of the cab to help Sotero, was clubbed on the back and shoulders. The deputies continued to beat him after he fell to the ground.

Attorney Dan Stormer, who represented Sotero, said that in agreeing to the settlement, Riverside County “is acknowledging that this type of brutal treatment of human beings, whether or not they are undocumented, will not be tolerated in a civilized society.”

The settlement brought an end to the civil lawsuit filed by the two immigrants against two sheriff’s deputies and the county. Under the settlement’s terms, the deputies and the Sheriff’s Department admitted no wrongdoing and they were released of any further liability.

“The Board of Supervisors and the sheriff should be praised for agreeing to pay a significant amount of money to settle this case,” said John Porter, a Riverside attorney who represented the county.

Porter said the county would save money by avoiding a drawn-out legal battle. And the Sheriff’s Department avoided demands by the plaintiffs that it agree to reforms in its policy on pursuits.

The chase began when Border Patrol officers saw the pickup truck--which carried 21 people--using a side road to avoid a checkpoint at Temecula. Riverside County sheriff’s deputies later joined the pursuit.

When the pickup stopped in South El Monte, all but Sotero and Funes ran away.

Sotero joined Funes at Friday’s newconference in Los Angeles. She had intended to read a written statement, which she clutched as her attorneys spoke. “I hope that no other individual, citizen or noncitizen, will ever have to endure the brutality and indignity that I suffered,” the statement read.

But Sotero declined to speak--and appeared to be on the verge of tears--when she was peppered with a series of questions from Spanish-speaking reporters.

In an interview with The Times just days after the beating, Sotero, 33, said she thought the deputies were going to kill her. She still has not completely recovered from the emotional trauma of the case, her attorneys said.

Both immigrants, now living in the United States with work permits granted after the beating, are planning to return to Mexico. Sotero, a mother of two, “looks forward to being reunited with her children,” said R. Samuel Paz, one of a team of attorneys who, along with the ACLU, represented Sotero.

Attorneys for Sotero and Funes were highly critical of federal authorities and the Riverside and Los Angeles County district attorneys for delaying their decision on whether to file criminal charges.

“This is a signal to the Mexican community in the U.S. that justice grinds especially slow when the victims are Latino immigrants and the culprits are police officers,” said Sotero attorney Antonio Rodriguez.

Funes suffered a fractured elbow and other injuries. About 15% of his portion of the settlement will go to cover medical costs, his attorneys said.

One deputy in the case was fired in August. A second deputy was suspended and has since returned to duty.

A federal grand jury is still investigating the beating. Sotero testified before the panel last week and Funes is expected to testify next week, according to his attorney, Peter Schey.