SLAIN TEEN INFORMANT'S FAMILY SUES BREA POLICE

Courts: The suit asserts that officers coerced Chad MacDonald into becoming
an informant, resulting in his slaying.

The family of slain teen-ager Chad Allen MacDonald has filed a lawsuit
against the Brea Police Department, alleging that officers coerced him into
working as a drug informant and failed to adequately protect him.

MacDonald, 17, was tortured and strangled March 2 in Norwalk by attackers
who repeatedly called him a "snitch," according to the lawsuit filed
Thursday in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana.

The teen-ager agreed to work as an informant after he was caught in
possession of half an ounce of methamphetamine during a Jan. 6 traffic stop.

Among the allegations in the lawsuit:

MacDonald's mother's heart conditon made it difficult for her to assess the
risk to her son when she signed an informant waiver.

Police should have known MacDonald was a drug addict and could be harmed as
an informant.

Police told MacDonald he would go to jail if he didn't inform when he
probably would have gone to a treatment center.

"Children are worth more than drug arrests," said Lloyd Charton, attorney
for MacDonald's family. An attorney for Brea police said the department
acted properly. He said MacDonald was removed from the informant program
before he was attacked at the reputed drug house.

"The death of Chad MacDonald is really, really sad, but not the fault of the
Brea Police Department," said Jeff Wertheimer, the city's lawyer. "Chad
MacDonald was a drug dealer. ... Drug dealers die all the time."

Checked-by: "Don Beck"