War In California

"And when I saw them coming out my first thought was, 'Wow, these are monsters.'" 

Officer Stuart Guy

    Emil Dechebal Matasareanu and Larry Eugene Phillips Jr. had unusual jobs.  They were human parasites.  These 2 men made a career of robbing banks, and committing armored car heists which left countless wounded, a guard dead, and $1.7 million missing.  

    Feb. 28, 1997. Van Nuys, California. Two men armed with an AK-47 and SKS assault rifle, dressed in black commando-type uniforms entered the Bank of America with the obvious intent to rob it. While inside the bank, they ordered the 32 customers and 10 employees to lay down and cover their eyes.  After expending over 100 rounds in the bank to obliterate the plexi-glass separating the customers from the tellers, one of the robbers was forced to strike a hostage with the butt of his rifle when he could not keep his crying infant quiet. (I guess babies don't like enclosed areas and automatic gunfire.)  

    Luckily, police were alerted when a woman saw the gunmen enter the bank.  The 2 men emerged from the bank with a cart full of cash in bags totaling $300,000 to find themselves surrounded by police.  Television cameras on the ground and helicopter cameras caught the next 40 minutes on tape.  

    Almost as if they had rehearsed for this type of encounter, they nonchalantly opened fire with their assault rifles and easily suppressed the lighter armed officers, wounding them and forcing them and the citizens to pull back or seek cover wherever they fell after being injured.  

 "I had my eyes closed most of the time, I thought if I saw anything, they'd kill me.''" 

Tracy Fisher

    To add to the problem, the robbers were also wearing high quality body armor which made it nearly impossible to stop them with conventional police weaponry.  Furthermore, their car was loaded down with more assault weapons and armor piercing bullets.  Despite being "trapped" in the bank parking lot, they were able to easily shoot their way out of the parking lot, where they then split up.  Amazingly the footage actually showed the gunmen being shot several times, with no ill effect thanks to their body armor.  Police were forced to raid a nearby gun store for more powerful weapons in order to compete with  the amount of firepower they were up against. The best they could come up with were slugs that would at least break bones on someone wearing body armor.  Separate cameras caught the ends of their violent rampage which ended for Phillips, not from any of the 27 direct hits to his body armor by police, but when he took his own life by turning the pistol to himself and firing a round under his chin.  From the footage, its clear the only reason he did that was because his assault weapon had jammed, and he was left only with a pistol.  He fired a few more shots from the pistol before ending his own life.  Meanwhile, Emil Matasareanu had managed to steal a truck. Matasareanu tried to escape but found himself cut off by a police vehicle about 5 blocks later. He took cover behind the stolen truck, and started yet another firefight with police at almost point blank range.  Police finally managed to bring an end to this ferocious war by wounding him.  It was estimated that his body armor had been shot over 29 times in the melee.  Witnesses  reported seeing additional men being armed with "assault weapons" and wearing bullet-proof vests, which naturally bought alarm to police.  At that point an exhaustive search was conducted in nearby neighborhoods for additional suspects.  After finding no other gunmen, police speculate the witnesses may have actually been confused by plainclothes cops responding to the incident, as no other suspects were found.

[7.62x39mm Full Metal Jacket round capable of piercing body armor at 200 yards recovered at the scene.]

    That infamous day, in under 1 hour, over 1,700 full metal jacket, armor piercing rounds were expended by the 2 men, wounding 11 officers and 6 civilians.  Both gunmen died on the scene, including  Matasareanu, who died from his injuries.  Over 200 officers were needed to stop this rampage. And since then, the rampage has been responsible for officers committing suicide, dealing with mental trauma, and living with physical limitations.  As a matter of fact, many of the officers that were wounded were forced into early retirement.  

Story over?  Not by a long shot.

     Enter Stephen Yagman.  A controversial civil rights lawyer who's gotten rich winning civil lawsuits against the LAPD, Daryl Gates, and by representing some of the most notorious cases in California.  Even before all the damage done by their father could even be repaired, the 2 children of Emil Matasareanu, being represented by Stephen Yagman,  had filed a lawsuit against the LAPD, officer James Vojtecky, and officer John Futrell [retired], in a  wrongful death/civil rights violation lawsuit.  The lawsuit alleges the police let him bleed to death.  In other words, the lawsuit alleges that amidst the confusion, chaos, fear, and possibility of their being more than 2 assailants, the police didn't act fast enough to save a violent, career criminal!?  Maybe the ambulances were busy treating the 17 innocent law abiding citizens who ended up with armor piercing bullets in them because of his client.  Perhaps police weren't risking the lives of the ambulance crews by keeping them out of an area until it could be secured.  After all, for all the police know, there were more than 2 gunmen involved. 

Stephen Yagman did use the "multiple gunmen" angle at one point in his lawsuit, claiming "there may have been more gunmen than just the 2 caught", but only when it seemed to help his lawsuit.  Apparently, when the almighty dollar is involved, it seems unreasonable to him that bringing unarmed emergency medical personal into a potentially dangerous situation might not be the smartest move.  Justice isn't blind, it simply puts on its "eyeball cover" when there are dollars to be made.  Perhaps Mr. Yagmans' outlook on the situation would be better understood if he happened to be one of the first victims lying in the street that day painfully, & slowly bleeding to death, after an armor piercing round tumbled through his leg, instantly disintegrating 4-6 inches of his femur.  Perhaps, if this lawyer had even been exposed to the confusion of a real life firefight, maybe he would "get it." How many of you would have given your seat on the ambulance to the man that damaged you for life?!

Imagine this...Stephen Yagman (the ambulance chasing lawyer), wounded in the melee, being loaded on an ambulance that was surrounded by other "ambulance chasing lawyers", and to top it off the person that damaged him for life, demanding he has equal rights to be treated just as fast.  Oh what a twisted web we weave when we practice to deceive and make a living...C'mon Stephen, would you give up your right to be treated since that "terrorist" has rights?  Or would you sue the ambulance and hospital for not being able to treat everyone, all at once?  Do you think you could make a buck from the "ambulance chasing lawyers" that must have been a factor in how fast you were or weren't treated.  If you had heard that they may be more armed gunmen in the area, would you DEMAND the ambulance stop and load up as many strangers, claiming injury, as possible?  What if police insisted, Matasareanu must be treated ASAP.  Can I disintegrate 6 inches of your femur THEN ask you these questions?

    Lawyers like that makes me ashamed to be a human and most of all, American.  He is the reason why lawyers in our country have a bad name and crime is often rewarded.  This truly a sad example of profiting off of our non perfect justice system. In addition to the many "cases" he's bought to trial, he's also gotten punishments ranging from suspension, to hefty fines.  The man who claims to work on behalf of the civil rights of his clients, BUSTED for taking advantage of his clients financially.  Like most Americans, I believe there should be checks and balances within our legal system, to include the police, as well as the lawyers who build a practice on suing the police departments, simply because money can be made.

" You can't sue the forest, but you can sue the trees." 

Stephen Yagman in The National Law Journal's September 25th, 2000.

Sue everybody Stephen!  Let God sort em out...Sleep well...

    I was wondering, If he does win the lawsuit, will the family be using the money from the lawsuit to clean up the damage done by the 1,700 rounds from their father's violent rampage and the damage done by his past crimes?  Will they be using the money to cover mental therapy for the victims of their dad aka cash cow, and physical therapy for the wounded?  Will Stephen Yagman end up with most of the money like he has in the past from civil rights lawsuits?  I'm also curious, was the family of Matasareanu supported or even put through college with  the 1.7 million dollars stolen in past crimes?  Did he use his ill gotten gains to buy them clothes, maybe food?  It sickens and saddens me that the justice system can be abused and manipulated in such a way.  

If I were in a position, I would counter sue for the following: 

1. The full cost of whatever medical, psychiatric, and legal bills of everyone who was ever involved in any of their robberies.

2. All assets they possess, pending a annual IRS audit proving what is in their possession purchased legally.

3. The missing $1.7 million taken in other robberies in which Matasareanu and Phillips are responsible for.

4. All resulting costs of this ridiculous lawsuit.

5. Malicious prosecution on the part of Yagman & Yagman & Reichmann, Lawyers.

6. The cost of paying the 200 involved officers 1 hour of a special hazard bonus pay.

7. The cost to erect a public urinal where Emil Matasareanu and Larry Phillips died as a memorial.  [This will save many who witnessed it, or were involved, or who were traumatized by them, the trip of  going to piss on their graves.]

    I would make them apologize while paying for each of these things in huge televised events.  In the background the footage of the gun battle would be played.  During key points as people are wounded in the footage, the screams of the victims would drown out the children's apologies.  Then I would sentence them to do time for their fathers crimes.  I'd then make old Stevie answer for HIS crimes against us [sober] humans.

    I truly hope the families of both men stumble across this page and read this.  Oh wait, that's right, Emil Matasareanu and Larry Eugene Phillips aren't around to steal a computer for them at gunpoint.  

"[Matasareanu] did a very bad thing. He robbed a bank and shot a lot of people." 

Stephen Yagman, the lawyer representing the Matasareanu estate, during his opening statement at the civil trial.

[Emil Matasareanu (left), and Larry Phillips (right)]

What's happened since the incident?

• Officer Martin Whitfield was one of the police officers seriously wounded early in the gun battle when an armor piercing round shattered 4-6 inches of his femur bone.  He lay wounded and bleeding for most of the battle and lost 40% of his blood.  Officer Martin Whitfield was forced to retire. Whitfield has since filed a lawsuit against Matasareanu's estate and the gun manufacturer. 

• 3 Law enforcement officers that were involved have since taken their own lives.

• The lawsuit filed by the family of Emil Matasareanu was declared a mistrial since the jury was hopelessly deadlocked 9-3.  Yagman vows to keep trying the case in the "hopes that more and more jurors will agree that the LAPD must do everything possible to keep even the most vile suspect from dying in custody". 

• June 20,2000:  The children of  Emil Matasareanu said they are willing to drop their civil rights lawsuit against the city and two police officers provided the officers are barred from counter suing for malicious prosecution.

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