5 Mexicans May Sue Sheriff, Judge Rules
A Los Angeles federal judge ruled Friday that five Mexicans whose civil rights were found to have been violated by San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies may seek damages against Sheriff Floyd Tidwell.
Moreover, U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima said Tidwell can be held personally liable for the damages if the jury determines that he has perpetuated a policy of misconduct among his deputies.
The claims of the men against Tidwell and the county will be pursued in the second phase of a civil trial that is to begin March 1. Three of the men were awarded $956,000 in the first phase of their multimillion-dollar police brutality suit against the five deputies who allegedly brutally beat them in a racially motivated incident in Victorville on June 30, 1988. The incident began when deputies responded to a complaint of a loud, drunken party.
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