Body armor lawsuits pile up

By: JO MORELAND - Staff Writer | Wednesday, July 28, 2004 10:51 PM PDT ∞

The lawyer for Oceanside police Officer Tony Zeppetella's widow said Wednesday that a lawsuit filed this week by the state of Pennsylvania against the manufacturer of the bulletproof vest Zeppetella wore when he was fatally shot will help her lawsuit.

However, attorney Greg Emerson questioned why state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who spoke at Zeppetella's funeral last year, hasn't added California to the half dozen states now suing Second Chance Body Armor Inc.

The suits allege that the vests, made of Zylon manufactured by Toyobo Co. of Japan, are defective and they degrade over time. Pennsylvania sued because an officer was wounded in suburban Pittsburgh.

"I think, unfortunately, the big embarrassment is California's attorney general has not taken any action against Second Chance, despite repeated requests," Emerson said.

No one from the state attorney general's office returned a request for comment.

Zeppetella, 27, was fatally shot June 13, 2003, when he pulled over Adrian Camacho, 28, for a traffic violation in Oceanside. Three bullets penetrated the officer's Second Chance body armor.

In addition to the lawsuits brought by states and Zeppetella's widow, Jamie, Second Chance of Central Lake, Mich., and Toyoba of Japanese are also the targets of a class-action lawsuit filed in Michigan.

The several hundred plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit include the city of Oceanside, seeking to recover about $70,000 paid by the city and officers for Second Chance body armor.

Testing by the National Institute of Justice on seven used Second Chance vests from Oceanside and other police departments revealed a failure rate of up to 50 percent, said Oceanside Deputy City Attorney Joe Bogan.

"Our position is that Toyobo and-or Second Chance should have known this as far back as 1998," Bogan said.

Zeppetella was among about 10 officers who paid $313 each out of their own pockets for what was supposed to be "the Cadillac" of body armor, said the deputy city attorney.

After Zeppetella was killed, Bogan said, "all of our officers lost faith in the vest."

"We're using American Armor and U.S. Armor," said Oceanside police Capt. Reggie Grigsby. "We're no longer using any vests by Second Chance."

He said there are questions about Second Chance body armor and the Police Department won't take any chances with officers' safety.

"They have to have confidence in their equipment," said Grigsby.

Contact staff writer Jo Moreland at (760) 740-3524 or jmoreland@nctimes.com.

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