177 Plead Guilty to July 4th Charges

Of 251 people arrested on the Fourth of July under the Police Department’s zero-tolerance crackdown, 177 have pleaded guilty, police said Thursday.

A total of 549 people were arrested that night, mostly for alcohol-related offenses. About half of their cases were handled by the city attorney’s office and half by the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Of those handled by the city, Police Lt. Dan Johnson said, nine pleaded not guilty, one case was dismissed, 177 pleaded guilty, and the city attorney declined to prosecute 15 others. He also said 49 people failed to appear and warrants were issued.

Johnson said the result “answers critics” who questioned the legality of the arrests made during the holiday. “Personally I wouldn’t plead guilty if I was innocent just because it was convenient.”

While police and city officials were both praised and criticized for the zero-tolerance policy, Mayor Dave Sullivan said, “The fact that the vast majority of people pleaded guilty indicates that police were on very solid ground in our enforcement policies.”

But Sylvester Lucio, 51, a Huntington Beach businessman who was arrested on July 4 for not having a bicycle license and spent 12 hours in jail, was among those who disagreed, saying that many people who made guilty pleas were intimidated by the court system.

“They didn’t know the law and were not represented by counsel,” said Lucio, who has a law degree. “A lot of people don’t want to stand up and fight.”

Lucio, whose case was dismissed, said he and others plan a lawsuit.

“I’m so outraged. If I wasn’t there myself, I wouldn’t believe how [police] treated individuals and myself,” he said. “We’re going to make them answer for their actions.”

Johnson said that most of the violations were reduced from misdemeanors to infractions and would not become part of permanent records.