Charges dropped in crash with Hermosa Beach officer

Charges have been dropped against a motorist accused of causing a collision that sent Hermosa Beach Police Officer Anthony Parente tumbling from his motorcycle into the back seat of a convertible, according to the driver’s attorney.

Thomas Beck, attorney for the motorist, Brian Hitchcock, said he was able to prove the accident was not caused by his client, and he called the case against Hitchcock “a monstrous fraud.”

Prosecutors in Redondo Beach, where the accident occurred in the evening rush hour on June 8, had charged Hitchcock with reckless driving and assault with a deadly weapon, Beck said.

In the accident, Parente’s motorcycle rear-ended Hitchcock’s BMW convertible, causing Parente to fly forward into the BMW’s back seat. At the time, Redondo police said Parente had escaped serious injury.

The charges against Hitchcock were dismissed shortly before trial, at the request of Redondo Beach City Prosecutor Brenda Coe, Beck said.

Coe was unavailable for comment before press time.

Four witnesses recounted that the officer pulled in behind the BMW, although the officer asserted that the BMW traveled about 100 feet in a parking lane before pulling in front of him, Beck said.

Beck said a DVR device, which records and stores video, was taken from the motorcycle and subsequently “vanished.”

“It didn’t record,” responded Hermosa Police Lt. Tom Thompson. “I talked to him [Beck] about that…We looked at it, and it did not turn on and show the collision. It’s not anything malicious or criminal or conspiratorial or anything else.”

Hitchcock has filed a $6,000 administrative claim against the City of Hermosa Beach for medical and car damages, claiming that police falsely accused him of intentionally causing the accident. City officials rejected the claim, and Beck said a lawsuit would be filed against the city.