Mall owner wants city to pay for damage in police shootout

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The owner of a strip mall that was the scene of a

police shooting last month is seeking reimbursement for damage done to

his building when an officer and an armed robbery suspect exchanged

shots.

Kenneth A. Reynolds filed a claim against the city earlier this month for

$1,220 to repair bullet holes in the walls, ceilings, windows and glass

of stores caught in the shootout at the corner of Hamilton Avenue and

Bushard Street in early September.

Reynolds, who was reached at his Huntington Beach office earlier this

week, declined to comment on the matter.

The robbery suspect had been holding three people hostage, including a

2-year-old boy, at a hair salon in the mall when Officer Nicholas Ekovich

arrived in response to a 911 call. Ekovich shot and killed the suspect,

but not before taking two bullets in the arm. He is still recovering from

his wounds. The hostages escaped unharmed.

The city will pay Reynolds out of a victim’s relief fund, said Karen

Foster, the city’s insurance risk manager. Generally, the city does not

have a legal responsibility to pay for damage that occurred while police

were acting in the line of duty. But, out of fairness to victims, the

city tries to reimburse them anyway, she said.

Most insurance policies would cover businesses in such cases, said Brett

Ludwig, spokesman for State Farm Insurance.

However, city officials said they were surprised by Reynolds’ claim

against the city, considering all that Ekovich had gone through.

“I can’t think of anything that would justify it,” City Councilwoman

Shirley Dettloff said. “Usually, someone in that position would have been

thanking the Police Department.”

City Councilman Ralph Bauer said he would never ask the city to repay him

in such a situation.

“We need to have a little bit more humanity in the world, for heaven’s

sake,” he said.

But police spokeswoman Sgt. Janet Perez said as long as the owner acted

within his rights, there’s nothing anyone can do.

“While we may feel like it’s not fitting, that’s not our decision to

make,” she said. “We do understand that he’s got a business to run.”