LOS ANGELES (CN) \u2014 A Los Angeles veteran was on the phone with an operator at the Department of Veterans Affairs crisis hotline when he became frustrated by her interruptions and warned he would hang up. When he did, she called the Los Angeles Police Department to conduct a welfare check at his home.<\/p>\n
Slade Douglas, a middle-aged Black man, welcomed officers Jeffrey Yabana and Jeremy Wheeler into his home on Aug. 27, 2019, and told them he was not a danger to himself or others. But Douglas says the officers didn\u2019t listen and instead became condescending and provoked him.<\/p>\n
Douglas asked them to leave. They did not.<\/p>\n
When Douglas called 911 to report the officers\u2019 conduct, he says Yabana and Wheeler detained him, mocked him and searched his home before tightly cuffing him to a stretcher and taking him to a hospital. There, Douglas says, he was injected with sedatives and had bodily samples forcibly extracted against his will in an effort to \u201cfind something,\u201d he says in a complaint against the police<\/a>. Douglas claims the officers retaliated against him and violated his civil rights after he attempted to report their conduct.<\/p>\n A federal judge has now rejected the officers\u2019 bid to overturn a multimillion-dollar jury verdict against the city and its officers in Douglas\u2019 favor, finding sufficient evidence to support his negligence-per-se claim and rejecting the city\u2019s argument that the jury\u2019s verdict was inconsistent. The judge also rejected the argument that the damages award was unsupported by the evidence.<\/p>\n Although the judge agreed with the city that the jury had been erroneously instructed on Douglas\u2019 negligent supervision claim, the ruling ultimately did<\/a> not change the $6.6 million verdict.<\/p>\n \u201cIn sum, defendants have not demonstrated that the jury\u2019s $6 million damages award is at odds with a permissible interpretation of the facts in evidence,\u201d U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong wrote Aug. 26<\/a>.<\/p>\n The city and officers asked her to toss the verdict, order a new trial or reduce the damages.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough the negligent supervision claim fails, the jury\u2019s damages award stands and no new trial is needed on that claim or on damages,\u201d Frimpong wrote. \u201cThis is because of the manner in which the jury \u2014 with the agreement of the parties \u2014 was instructed on damages. The parties agreed that the jury should be instructed as follows on damages, and that the jury should not be instructed to calculate damages separately for each claim.\u201d<\/p>\n Substance abuse claims against one of the officers became a major point of contention during the middle of the case\u2019s litigation.<\/p>\n On the eve of the trial in 2024, the city requested a continuance due to Wheeler\u2019s previously undisclosed substance-related issues the city had long been aware of, Frimpong noted in the ruling. This prompted Douglas to reopen discovery and file new negligence claims that the city knew of the officer\u2019s condition before the 2019 incident and allowed him to remain on duty anyway.<\/p>\n The city argued these claims were not fairly brought up in Douglas\u2019 new complaint. The substance abuse was only discovered in 2024. But Frimpong said this was misleading.<\/p>\n \u201cThe later allegations merely confirm the city\u2019s prior knowledge of Officer Wheeler\u2019s serious substance abuse and mental illness,\u201d the Joe Biden appointee wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n Representing Douglas at trial, attorney Paul Hoffman told jurors the city had prioritized protecting Wheeler over protecting the public.<\/p>\n \u201cWhose interest is really protected here? Not Mr. Douglas\u2019s. Not yours, not mine. Not the community\u2019s,\u201d Hoffman said. \u201cThe city chose confidentiality over your safety. They chose to protect officer Wheeler over protecting Mr. Douglas, over protecting you, and it\u2019s your ability to hold them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0city argued these comments were inflammatory, but Frimpong rejected this, too, ruling that they were a continuation of previous testimony about the city\u2019s officer confidentiality policies over officer fitness.<\/p>\n The city had been made aware of Wheeler\u2019s substance abuse and mental health issues well before Douglas\u2019 detention, Na\u2019Shaun Neal, an attorney representing Douglas, said. The city had a problem it failed to address, he added.<\/p>\n