Long Beach Agrees to Pay $211,000.00 in Taser Excessive Force Case, According to Pappas Law Group

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The City of Long Beach agreed to pay $211,000.00 to settle an excessive force case filed in federal court after a 19-year-old female was shot in the neck with a Taser weapon by a Long Beach Police officer in 2009. In an incident involving officers responding to a simple noise complaint, the female was rushed to the hospital after the Taser dart became lodged in her neck. The lawsuit also alleged that another female was accosted by officers during the incident and seriously injured when shoved onto a sharp object.

According to retired L.A.P.D. Deputy Chief Stephen Downing, a resident of Long Beach, there is growing public concern over an increasing number of police abuses. Downing, who agreed to perform an in-depth review of the police reports surrounding the incident said, "The significant shortcomings of the Use of Force investigation, Internal Affairs investigation, Deputy Chief's panel review, and the so-called 'independent' Investigation and disposition by the Citizens Police Complaint Commission (CPCC) in this case convince me that there was little interest by the City for getting to the bottom of the allegations of police misconduct as the disposition for each officer was completely out of line with the facts of the case." Downing further stated, "I am also concerned that the CCPD has become a rubber stamp for faulty Internal Affairs misconduct investigations and does not perform an independent and 'un-collaborated' investigation as advertised by city officials. Each of the officers involved received disposition letters from the CCPD and City Manager informing them that their actions were determined to be legal, necessary, and proper. The cumulative effect of that kind of faulty disposition undermines the LBPD's social contract with the people, emboldens a sense of impunity among police officers and exposes the taxpayer to serious liability, like the $211,000 paid out in this case." Downing also pointed out that just last May the City settled another use of force lawsuit in which a police officer shot a man with a Taser and the dart lodged in his eye. Downing's comments are supported by a 2010 article in the Long Beach Beachcomber reporting officers had been told by the Long Beach City Attorney's office to lie in cases brought against the city.

Commenting on the case, attorney Lee Durst of the Pappas Law Group said, "by using a Taser on a 19-year-old girl for a simple noise complaint, the Long Beach Police Department has again shown its total lack of concern for the people it is supposed to protect." Durst said the $211,000.00 payment was unanimously approved by the city council on December 12. In another case, Durst and attorney Matthew Pappas represent a man shown in a June, 2012 surveillance video being stepped-on and attacked by Long Beach officers while others used an iron bar to smash and destroy security cameras in an apparent effort to cover up their misconduct.

For more information contact Pappas Law Group. Phone: 949-382-1485, E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Pappas Law Group