SUIT CITES LAPD PEPPER-SPRAY USE.Byline: BETH BARRETT Staff Writer In the second such incident to emerge in the last two weeks, a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . officers pepper sprayed a suspect without provocation Conduct by which one induces another to do a particular deed; the act of inducing rage, anger, or resentment in another person that may cause that person to engage in an illegal act. while he was
handcuffed.
In his suit filed against the city and three LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. officers, Gregory Falk of Venice alleges that his constitutional rights were violated July 27, when he was handcuffed and ``summarily punished'' by officers who applied pepper spray to his face. Falk said in the lawsuit that the incident began after a surfing dispute with lifeguards. When officers arrived, Falk said in the suit, they threw him against the hood of their SUV. One officer called out, ``Resisting arrest resisting arrest n. the crime of using physical force (no matter how slight in the eyes of most law enforcement officers) to prevent arrest, handcuffing and/or taking the accused to jail. !'' and punched him in the face, then threw him to the sand and handcuffed him, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the suit. As he was held against a nearby lifeguard truck, one of the officers pepper-sprayed his eyes and face, the suit says. Falk was arrested and taken to Pacific Station but never charged with a crime, according to the complaint. ``The significance is another incidence of (officers) pepper spraying someone as summary punishment,'' said John Raphling, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit alleging a pattern of LAPD officers using pepper spray on suspects without justification. LAPD spokeswoman Martha Garcia said the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. . Falk's suit follows a video shown by Raphling earlier this month of a February 2005 arrest of transient Benjamin Baker. The video shows Baker being pepper-sprayed by an officer while handcuffed in a patrol car at Venice beach. The LAPD completed an investigation into that incident earlier this month but declined to divulge information about the officers. In a separate review, Police Chief William Bratton concluded that no policy changes are needed in the department's use of pepper spray, calling it a ``highly effective nonlethal tool that is necessary for officers to use when trying to de-escalate a confrontation with an uncooperative and or combative com·bat·ive adj. Eager or disposed to fight; belligerent. See Synonyms at argumentative. com·bat  ive·ly adv. suspect.''
beth.barrett@dailynews.com (818) 713-3731 |
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