OXNARD,
Calif. (AP) – A man who claims police officers
stopped him because he was black, battered him with “sadistic brutality” and
dislocated his shoulders during an arrest sued the city Oct. 4 for violating
his federal civil rights.
Cornell Allen Jr., 28, contends that the city and police
chief knew about long-standing problems of police racism and use of excessive
force but failed to take measures to stop them, according to the suit filed in
federal court in Los Angeles.
City Attorney Gary L. Gillig said
he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it.
“Our policy is not to comment on pending litigation,” Police
Department spokesman David Keith said.
Allen, an occupational therapist with the Los Angeles
Unified School District, contends that police saw him and a friend sitting in
his car in his apartment parking stall on Sept. 18, 2006, and a short time
later barged into his home and confronted him.
The officers demanded identification but when Allen went
back to his car for his driver’s license, he was grabbed, thrown to the ground
and beaten, the suit claims.
Three or four officers jumped on his back to handcuff him
and struck his legs, shoulders and back while his mother pleaded for them to
stop, the suit contended.
It claimed several officers engaged in “sadistic brutality”
by pinning Allen’s shoulders with their knees and pulling on his arms.
Allen felt “excruciating tearing pain in each of his
shoulders as these defendants brutally pulled his arms from their sockets,”
according to the suit.
Allen’s shoulders were briefly dislocated but later snapped
back in place, the suit said.
Allen said it was hours before he was taken to a hospital,
where he received “cursory treatment,” and he spent the night in a jail cell
after being booked for investigation of resisting arrest.
The Ventura County district attorney’s office dismissed the
charge two months later for lack of evidence.
The suit contends that police had no cause to confront Allen
and that he never resisted arrest.
“These officers saw an African-American man, and decided to
fabricate probably cause, chase him down, and brutalize him. This was a
catastrophic failure of training and police procedure,” Allen’s attorney, Shawn
Khorrami, said in a statement.
The lawsuit alleges civil rights violations, assault and
battery and negligence in police officer hiring and training. It seeks
unspecified damages and names the city, the Police Department, Police Chief
John Crombach and four officers.
Man
Charged in the Theft of ‘Indiana Jones’ Movie Materials
BEVERLY
HILLS, Calif. (AP) – A man arrested in connection with the
theft of computers and photos from the upcoming “Indiana Jones” movie was
charged Oct. 4 with receiving stolen property.
Roderick Eric Davis, 37, of Cerritos plead not guilty during
his arraignment in Beverly Hills Superior Court and was ordered held on
$100,000 bail, a court clerk said.
Davis, who had prior convictions for burglary, grand theft
and receiving stolen property, faces at least four years in prison if convicted
in the latest case, prosecutors said.
A call to a public defender who
represented Davis in court was not immediately returned.
Davis was arrested Tuesday by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s
investigators probing the theft of materials taken from a film production
office on the Universal Studios lot last week.
The stolen items were “motion picture production budget and
proofs” related to the fourth installment of the popular adventure series,
prosecutors said.
When detectives learned that some of the photos were being
offered for sale to several entertainment gossip Web sites, they posed as
potential buyers and set up a meeting at a hotel.
When Davis arrived, the undercover detectives began
negotiating for the photos before arresting him on suspicion of receiving
stolen property, Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
The investigation was ongoing and authorities were searching
for more suspects, he said.
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” is directed
by Steven Spielberg and stars Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf.
Man
Gets 5 years in Prison for Crash that Severed Arm of
Lava Man’s Groom
VISTA,
Calif. (AP) – The drunken driver who caused a crash
that severed the arm of a groom for Lava Man, the richest claiming horse in
thoroughbred racing history, was sentenced Oct. 4 to five years in state prison.
Heriberto
Castillo, 24, pleaded guilty in September to driving under the influence of
alcohol causing injury and causing great bodily injury to 39-year-old groom Noe Garcia.
The crash occurred July 23 on Interstate 5 near Del Mar
racetrack when Garcia was on his way to work.
“The injury (the defendant) caused me and my family is
great,” Garcia told Vista Superior Court Judge K. Michael Kirkman
via a Spanish interpreter. “Because of that I lost my job. I lost my arm. I am
not well physically or psychologically. My children and my wife are greatly
affected by this.”
Prosecutor Rick Watson told the judge “this was one of the
worst cases” of drunken driving that one could imagine.
Castillo had a blood-alcohol level of .19 percent when
tested after his arrest, Watson said. The legal limit is .08 percent.
Castillo, who lived in Oceanside and worked in a cafe in
Vista, had been in the United States illegally for about five years, according
to a report filed by the county Probation Department.
The defendant also had a bag of marijuana with him and was
driving without a license, the report stated.
Also speaking through a Spanish interpreter, Castillo asked
for forgiveness from Garcia and his family.
“I understand that he has suffered tremendous pain,” said
Castillo, who had no prior criminal record.
Garcia, who had cared for Lava Man for three years, was in
need of a prosthetic arm that would cost far more money than he had available,
the prosecutor said.
A poker tournament held in August raised $120,000 minus
expenses to help pay for the arm and rehabilitation for Garcia, who has a wife
and four children.
Garcia oversaw preparations as Lava Man won three straight
Hollywood Gold Cups, two consecutive Santa Anita Handicaps and last year’s
Pacific Classic. He also groomed Sky Jack, another Gold Cup winner, during 11
years with trainer Doug O’Neill.
Lava Man finished sixth in this year’s Pacific Classic at Del
Mar, which was run a couple weeks after Garcia was injured. The horse has
earned more than $5 million since being claimed in 2004.
Copyright
2007 The Associated Press.