A resident of West Hollywood’s Eastside, assaulted this week by a man trying to repossess his car, says that local Sheriff’s deputies refused to arrest the man for the assault and were dismissive when he complained about it.
Brian Doyle, who lives at 1210 Formosa Ave. near Lexington, said that this past Tuesday around 11 p.m. he heard his car alarm go off while he was sitting in his apartment.
Doyle said he went to the car and saw two men, one getting into the car. That man, Doyle said, told him he was repossessing the car. Doyle objected, saying he hadn’t receiving any warning of repossession. At that point, he said, the man said, “What are you going to do about it faggot? Come on homo, what are you going to do?”
Doyle, who is gay, said he pushed the man, who responded by pulling out an iron bar and hitting Doyle in the head, leaving him bleeding from a wound that required seven stitches. Doyle said he passed out briefly then recovered and was able to dial 911. Eight deputies from the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station quickly arrived, he said, but they refused to arrest the man for assaulting him.
“After they found out it was about repossessing my car they said I should have made my car payment,” said Doyle, who acknowledged that he is one payment behind.
The deputies allowed the men to take the car and left the scene. Doyle said that a man visiting a neighbor who saw the attack called the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station to offer himself as a witness. “He said that when he contacted the Sheriff’s station they said they didn’t need his statement, and it was none of his business, and they hung up on him,” Doyle said.
Dylan Baer, a friend of Doyle’s who was alerted by him to the incident, quickly went to Doyle’s home where the deputies were gathered and Doyle was being treated by a paramedic. “There was blood everywhere,” Baer said. “On the side of the gate, there was blood on his door because he attempted to go inside. His hands were all scraped up, his knees were all scrapped up. We’re talking about a six foot man. I’ve never seen him shaken up like that.”
Baer said he overheard several of the deputies on the scene discussing the incident as an assault. But, he said, one by one they got in their cars and left the scene without arresting the man who had assaulted Doyle.
“I am so furious and disgusted,” Doyle said. Citing the Tuesday incident and an apparent increase in homeless people on the Eastside that other residents have complained about, Doyle said, “I don’t feel safe.”
Lt. David Smith of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station confirmed that deputies had responded to the incident. Smith said a report filed by a deputy who responded is being turned over detectives to investigate. Smith said the report did not indicate that Doyle had been assaulted by an iron bar.
This incident is the latest in a number of similar complaints that Sheriff’s deputies have been uninterested or dismissive when local assaults are reported. Two other complainants have been willing to discuss such incidents publicly with WEHOville. In August, Larry Workman, who lives on Hancock Avenue, discovered a hooded man carrying an ice pick inside his home at night. The man, who turned out to be Randy Tullis, Workman’s former spouse, had splashed blood red paint across the facade of the house. Workman screamed and a neighbor called 911. When Sheriff’s deputies arrived, Workman said, they charged his ex-spouse with felony vandalism. They refused to charge Tullis with the more serious crime of felony assault despite testimony from two neighbors that the man had lunged at them with the ice pick. Workman has told the city’s Public Safety Commission that he lives in fear of another attack because Tullis was released from custody after posting a small bond of $20,000. The West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station has said it is looking into its handling of the incident.
In May, Jason Schirle said he and a friend were assaulted in front of the carwash on the 8700 block of Santa Monica Boulevard around 2:30 a.m. one night . “I was thinking it was a joke,” Schirle said. “I turned around, and the minute I turned I was hit with a sucker punch. The next thing I knew there were two guys in front of me, one holding my arm down. The guy who had been hitting me began kicking me. The other guy went for my friend.”
“A few hits to the face, a few kicks to the ribs. I missed a few days at work,” Schirle said. “My friend got hit in the face pretty bad, but my impression is I got the worst of it.” Schirle said his friend did not want to be identified.
Schirle said he walked to the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station to report the attack and was met with “ambivalence” by the desk clerk. “I was kind of surprised I was met with a lot of ambivalence … I just kind of met with ‘what are you all about?’ ‘Why didn’t you call us?’ I was kind of met with this attitude of I was doing something wrong.”
The City of West Hollywood has an $18 million contract with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department to provide public safety services. Until recently, however, there has been little transparency about the amount of crime in the city and the steps the Sheriff’s station takes to address it and complaints that some apparent crimes are not reported. The city continues to promote itself as a “safe place to visit, live and work” despite an L.A. County Sheriff’s Department report that shows the rate of violent and property crimes reported in West Hollywood last year topped that of the nearly two dozen areas it serves. For example, West Hollywood’s 2014 reported crime rate was 98 percent higher than that of the department’s South Los Angeles Station and 38 percent higher than that of its Compton Station.
A report being presented to the City Council at its meeting on Monday also states “the City continues to be a very safe place to live, visit, and work” and says the ” West Hollywood Station has some of the lowest crime statistics out of all twenty-four Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Stations.” However the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s report on serious crime through July 31 of this year contradicts that. The report shows that West Hollywood ranks fourth among other areas served by the department in robberies and larceny, fifth in aggravated assault and seventh in burglaries. The report did note, however, that serious crimes in West Hollywood were down one percent compared to the first seven months of 2014 and down 3.3 percent from the same period in 2010. The city experienced only one murder. Lt. Sergio Aloma of the Sheriff’s station told WEHOville that the report’s statement that “West Hollywood Station has some of the lowest crime statistics out of all twenty-four Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Stations,” was a reference to WeHo’s low rate of increase in crime year over year and not to the actual number of crimes relative to its population.
Representatives of the Sheriff’s Station and some City Council members also have said West Hollywood’s high ranking for serious crimes is based on the number of crimes per 10,000 residents and thus doesn’t take into account the fact that the city’s nightlife draws thousands of visitors. Others, however, have noted that whether car break-ins or assaults are done by a visitor or resident, they still put residents at risk. Reports of the crimes also have resulted in posts on WEHOville.com and on Facebook by gay men who say they are afraid to come to West Hollywood.
i feel bad for brian doyle about this happening but here is some advice for others tha may find themselves in harms way: if possible leave immediatley & call 911, never ever put your hands on someone as you are lucky that it was just a crow bar & not a gun. i always carry protection no matter where or what i am doing & mace works great to keep people a good distance from your being. i am a survivor of a violent random crime & my motto is not to trust anyone or anything until proven different. as… Read more »
My guess is the sheriffs wrote it off because it’s one person’s word against another’s and even if you are provoked with words, if you put your hands on someone else first, you lose the right to claim assault. The repo man probably would have said he felt he needed the use of the tire iron in defense. I wish there had been no physical altercation which could have resulted in death over a car. Instead, it might have helped if you had just gotten this repo man demeaning you on camera, then let him go. The sheriff’s department still… Read more »
i think we all know what happened here. these sheriffs are cocky and dismissive and they clearly dismissed this fella, just writing him off as someone who couldn’t pay his bills.
pretty sad story.
i guess if ‘tire iron justice’ is appropriate behavior and of no concern to the west hollywood sherriffs, then so be it.
always good to know where we stand.
The reported indifference is the issue here. We don’t know what went down in the original conflict, but I know if I suffered an injury like the one pictured above I would hope to be shown some humanity, if not compassion. I’ve had my own experience reporting a crime to the police here and was treated as a nuisance and had to insist on a report being made ($5,500 worth of property is a lot) when the officer attempted not to make one. Good people skills go miles in pardoning other shortcomings.
This is sad. I’m not jumping to conclusions, but, how many times do we excuse the sheriffs department for being indifferent? This seems to be a trend that is on the uptick.
It’s been my experience seeing cars being repossessed in West Hollywood that these are low life’s. In one case they broke into the building to gain access. They do not use tow trucks with the name of their company painted on the side like regular tow trucks because they are “not for hire.” As far as “mutual combat” I believe one can only use enough force to prevent further injury. Being pushed and responding with a crow bar seems extensive and the simple fact that Mr. Doyle required attention by the paramedics should have indicated extensive force was used.
@West Lahuna Beach, My one line comment did not state or infer that a push deserved a hit over the head with a crow bar. I expect the worst out of everyone I deal with. Getting physical with someone opens the door for retaliation. Why wasn’t the repo man arrested? Probably because the officer would be forced to arrest both Doyle and the repo man. The repo man’s best defense would be that in the course of doing his job, he was assaulted and had no choice other than to fight back. He did not know if Doyle was armed… Read more »
@Henry, Doyle started it by getting physical. What good could possibly come from Doyle pushing the repo man? Nothing good. I’m always up for a good verbal sparring session. I’m in court three times a week and can hold my own. Sometimes I may hit below the belt. Never do I expect to get pushed in response to a statement or remark. If that did happen, I’d have the guy arrested, bring a civil action, get a judgment and levy the persons bank accounts. Once Doyle laid his hand on the repo man, he escalated the situation. And look at… Read more »
I’d like to see a fuller report on this situation before making snap judgments, which reports from one side of events tend to provoke particularly when people have a bias. If what happened went down as the man who was hit described, yes, the LASD has some explaining to do. But again we don’t necessarily have the full details. Interfering with a repo of one’s car isn’t a smart thing to do, particularly when one realizes there might be a reason. If you think your car is being wrongfully repossessed, call the sheriff, and take down the name and licence… Read more »
The Sherriff’s need to crack down on all those drug selling Trannies that hang out at Target, and the drug pushers outside the Dylan. Total lowlife they make the homeless look bad.
Lesson one…Pay your debts. Lesson two…never lay your hands on someone – you might get your ass kicked. Lesson three…Sticks and stones will break your bones, a dumb ass with a big mouth will never hurt you.
Conrad – what an ass! No push deserves being hit in the head with a crow bar. That is legally assault with a deadly weapon and is a felony. Add in the hate slurs and the crime’s consequences are multiplied as a hate crime. As for the Sherriff, it is now ell known that all deputies spend their force training time working the County jails – and all that entails. They are not the “public servants” West Hollywood should have as “public safety” officers. Their disdain for our community is readily apparent in any interaction. WeHo has got to change… Read more »