Alleged Drug Dealer Files Suit Against Officers
An alleged South-Central Los Angeles drug dealer has filed suit against several law enforcement officers, saying that they violated his civil rights in their attempts to send him to prison.
One of the officers cited in the complaint filed by Ricky Donell Ross is former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Sobel, the key government witness in the current money-skimming trial of seven sheriff’s narcotics officers. He has testified in Los Angeles federal court that deputies abused and planted evidence on numerous drug suspects, including Ross.
The civil suit filed in federal court alleges that from March, 1987, to about November, 1989, several sheriff’s deputies and Los Angeles police officers violated Ross’ civil rights by denying him due process and subjecting him to excessive force--including beatings and a mauling by a police dog.
The complaint seeks unspecified general and punitive damages.
Neither Ross, who is in prison on a drug conviction, nor his attorney, Robert Mann, could be reached for comment.
Police spokesman Cmdr. William Booth declined to comment. Sheriff’s Deputy Ed Jamison, named in the suit, denied that he and his colleagues had done anything wrong and questioned the credibility of a suspected drug dealer.
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