A lawsuit claiming that a man was beaten outside a Santa Clarita bar by off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, who then conspired with a high-ranking sheriff’s official to cover up the incident, was dismissed by a federal judge this week.
In the lawsuit, Valencia resident Parker Seitz alleged that off-duty deputies Randy Austin and Nicholas Hernandez, along with a third man attacked him outside a bar called the Break Room in late November 2024. Seitz said the men had assaulted him, and that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and deputies had violated his civil rights, inflicted emotional stress, defamed him and conspired to keep the matter quiet.
The incident, the complaint alleged, left Seitz with a fractured jaw, punctured lung and a bruised collarbone.
But attorneys for the county argued in court filings that it was Seitz who was actually the aggressor.
Seitz’s attorneys said they were disappointed in the ruling and “will continue to seek justice.”
“Mr. Seitz and his family, as we have previously stated, are longtime supporters of law enforcement, and remain so, but they expect accountability for the assault and the events that followed,” said attorney Josh Stambaugh.
Attorneys representing the county and the deputies did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
In the complaint filed in California’s Central District federal court on Aug. 25, Seitz had also alleged that deputies and a captain in the sheriff’s North Patrol Division tried to dissuade and prevent him and his father from reporting the incident.
But U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner disagreed in a ruling Wednesday, finding Seitz and his attorneys had not shown how his 1st Amendment rights had been violated. Klausner also ruled that some of the actions that Seitz’s attorneys argued were meant to intimidate him instead appeared to be “routine law enforcement interactions.”
Klausner dismissed all of the remaining allegations against the county, the deputies and the bar.
The ruling prevents Seitz from filing another federal claim alleging violations of his civil rights, but his attorneys said they were considering an appeal, and also intend to file another claim in county court.
The incident occurred Nov. 28 after Seitz and two friends visited the Santa Clarita bar. In the complaint, Seitz alleged that Austin, Hernandez and a third man began to bother and harass him outside after the bar closed, “including by repeatedly reaching for the sunglasses resting on” his head.
Hernandez allegedly knocked the glasses off Seitz’s head, and a fight broke out. The altercation briefly stopped, but the complaint alleges the fighting resumed after Austin “suddenly and without justification” punched and knocked Seitz down.
But in a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed, attorneys for the county argued it was Seitz who initiated the fight and that surveillance video of the fracas outside the bar showed he had thrown the first punch.
“The evidence confirms he [Seitz] was the aggressor,” the court filing reads.
The filing also alleges that video shows Seitz crossed the street after the altercation had initially been quelled, and ran to confront Hernandez and Austin a second time.
Seitz’s attorneys, however, argued the video supported their version of events.
“This video, which was submitted to the federal court, shows clearly that our client was brutally beaten,” Stambaugh said in a statement. “We look forward to presenting our evidence to a jury.”
Seitz also alleged in his complaint that sheriff’s officials tried to keep him from reporting the incident, pointing to a call made by then-Capt. Justin Diez the day after the fight to Seitz’s father.
The complaint alleged Diez called Ryan Seitz, a personal friend of his, to tell him about the fight. Diez — now a commander in the Sheriff’s Department — allegedly suggested that the department was understaffed and that he would “make sure [the] criminal investigation would go away.”
Parker Seitz alleged the call was made to dissuade him and his father from reporting the incident, and that his father was “fearful that his son was going to be prosecuted and that he was going to be sued.”
But in his ruling Wednesday, Klausner ruled Seitz and his attorneys had not presented “factual allegations as to why this phone call would affect Plaintiff.”
Even if the call had been intimidating, the judge wrote in his ruling, he was not convinced that such a call “would have chilled a person of ordinary firmness from exercising their First Amendment rights.”
An internal Sheriff’s Department investigation into the incident is ongoing, a spokesperson said Friday.
“The Department expects all personnel to conduct themselves with professionalism and respect, both on and off duty,” according to a statement provided by the department. “The Department has established policies and procedures that clearly outline the standards of conduct required of all employees. These guidelines are in place to ensure accountability, maintain public trust, and uphold the integrity of the Department.”
Austin and Hernandez have been relieved of duty pending the outcome of the investigation, the spokesperson said.
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