By JON CASSIDY
NEWPORT BEACH – A Fountain Valley man who wet himself during a DUI arrest Jan. 3 has filed a claim against the City of Newport Beach seeking $100,000 for pain and suffering.
Davin Palitz has been "publicly humiliated," he said, since it was reported in a local newspaper Saturday that he had filed a claim alleging that police refused to let him use the bathroom during a DUI arrest.
"Somebody brought diapers to the front of my…house," Palitz said.
Palitz said that he has no plans to file a lawsuit and is withdrawing the claim, and that the claim was just to protect himself during a criminal trial.
"My attorney said, 'We're gong to fight this thing, we're going to win this thing, and the city's going to pay,'" Palitz said. Now, "I just want this to be over."
Palitz was convicted of driving under the influence and sentenced June 11 to 60 days in jail, an 18-month alcohol program, and five years of probation.
It was his second drunken driving conviction.
In an interview, Palitz said that he wasn't driving his SUV on the day of the arrest, and that there were two former friends in the car with him, whom he wasn't able to track down to subpoena to testify on his behalf.
"Yes, I was drinking. Yes, I shouldn't have been drinking," Palitz said. "I haven't had a drink since then."
When police arrested Palitz in front of the Villa Nova Restaurant at 3131 W. Coast Hwy around 11 p.m., he had the valet claim ticket to his 2007 black Cadillac Escalade in hand.
Police said that he was just pulling up; Palitz said that he was retrieving the SUV, which a friend was going to drive.
Nobody testified during the trial that they saw him driving, Palitz said.
Police were responding to a 911 call of an erratic driver running a red light.
A blood test showed Palitz's blood alcohol content was 0.18, and Palitz was confrontational during the arrest, police reported.
"I wasn't mouthing off. I was frustrated," Palitz said.
Palitz said that when he repeatedly asked to use the bathroom, the officer told him, "'You show me respect and I'll show you respect.'"
During the field sobriety test, Palitz was unable to hold it any longer.
Lt. Craig Fox of the Newport Beach Police Department said that for security and other reasons, suspects are not allowed to use the bathroom during arrests.
"The timing of this, that this was during an investigation, tells you something," Fox said. "It wasn't an hour later where he was put in a room and told, 'No you can't use the bathroom.'"
Palitz filed the claim because he was outraged that none of the three arresting officers allowed him to relieve himself, he said.
"What would you do? If you ask a police officer to let you go to the bathroom and there's an outhouse less than 10 steps away and they won't let you go?" Palitz said. "I asked him eight times."
Contact the writer: jcassidy@ocregister.com or 714-704-3782
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