Convicted Robber Sues Police for Shooting

A convicted robber who was wounded in 1982 by members of a secret Los Angeles police surveillance unit after a bank holdup is suing the officers in U.S. District Court, alleging that her civil rights were violated because she was shot in the back.

Attorney Stephen Yagman filed suit Thursday on behalf of Jane (Beckie) Berry, who is in prison at Frontera. Berry received 14 shotgun pellet wounds to her back after the robbery in Burbank, where she and her husband were confronted by members of the Police Department’s Special Investigations Section. Berry’s husband, John Crumpton, also was shot from the rear and killed, records show.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson dismissed a civil rights lawsuit by Crumpton’s 7-year-old son. Wilson concluded that the boy was a fetus at the time and thus had no legal standing to sue the officers for depriving him of his father.