Three people filed a civil rights and state tort action March 3, alleging that Hemet Police Officers beat them and their dogs. The police department declined to comment on the action, said Alan Reyes, Hemet Police Department public information and social media officer.
Allegations
Members of Hemet’s Police Gang Task Force, described in the complaint as Caucasian, conducted a traffic stop March 31 against Ryan Gadison, an African-American man, as he parked his 2020 Dodge Challenger in his fiancée’s driveway on Oakland Avenue in Hemet, according to the complaint. When Gadison refused to allow the officers to search his vehicle, and without probable cause, the officers removed him from the vehicle and handcuffed him, the plaintiffs allege in the complaint.
Gadison’s fiancée Mariah Hereford and her mother Monett Hereford began filming the officers. The officers struck their phones from their hands and then beat them, they claim. Gadison’s children were crying as they watched, they said in the complaint.
The complaint explicitly says that the officers had no reasonable suspicion or probable cause, and that Gadison was targeted because of the color of his skin and the quality of his car.
According to the complaint, one officer told Gadison they stopped him because he did not have a front license plate. No charges were filed against Gadison.
The male officers pushed Monett Hereford against Gadison’s car, conducted a search and frisk, and grabbed her between her groin area, even though female officers were also present, according to the complaint.
An officer grabbed Mariah Hereford by the hair, slammed her face against the ground multiple times, hooked his fingers into her jaw, caused her to lose consciousness and ultimately caused her to be hospitalized, the plaintiffs allege in the complaint.
The officers also beat their dogs, one with a baton and another by lifting him up and slamming him down by the collar, despite the dogs’ being restrained and out of the way, the complaint says.
Violation claims
The complaint claims violation of the Bane Civil Rights Act, violation of the Ralph Civil Rights Act, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false arrest and imprisonment, trespass to chattels, negligence, deprivation of civil rights based on excessive and unreasonable use of force, deprivation of civil rights with a Monell claim for civil liability, deprivation of civil rights and equal protection through unlawful detention, seizure and arrest, and deprivation of civil rights based on violation of the First Amendment.
The suit calls for a jury trial.
The plaintiffs pray for general and special damages, pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and civil penalties.
Parties
Toni Jaramilla, J. Bernard Alexander and John Schwab of Los Angeles’ Alexander Morrison + FEHR LLP represent the plaintiffs.
Defendants’ lawyers have not yet been announced.
Case number 5:22-cv-00394.
Read the complaint here.
