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The Southern California city of Torrance has paid a Redondo Beach man $750,000 after two police officers allegedly spray-painted a swastika inside his car three years ago.
The payout settles a federal lawsuit filed by Kiley Swaine, who discovered the swastika on his car's back seat after he and two other men were arrested on suspicion of mail theft in January 2020, the Los Angeles Times reported. Swaine was later cleared of the mail theft charges.
The Torrance police officers, Christopher Tomsic and Cody Weldin, allegedly spray-painted the swastika along with a smiley face on Swaine's front passenger seat and damaged the interior before having the car towed away, Swaine's attorney said in a news release.
Swaine reported the graffiti after he was released and went to retrieve his car.
Two former Torrance police officers are accused of spray-painting a swastika in the car of a man three years ago. (iStock)
Tomsic and Weldin have reportedly left the force, and each pleaded not guilty while they await trial on conspiracy and vandalism charges.
Despite the fact Swaine reported the vandalism less than two days after it occurred, he apparently did not learn about the case against the officers until October 2021, after LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced the charges.
"I have been suing police officers for 39 years and I have never seen anything like this," Swaine’s attorney, Jerry 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."
The officers accused are no longer with the Torrance Police Department. (Lino Mirgeler/picture alliance via Getty Images)
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An investigation by the Times in 2021 found that officers of the Torrance Police Department traded hateful comments via text messages about people of color, particularly Black people, as well as Jews and members of the LGBTQ community.
Other messages spoke about using violence against suspects and lying to investigators about a police shooting.
The Torrance city attorney declined to comment on the settlement to the Times.
Torrance is home to about 143,000 people south of Los Angeles.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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