Worker Says Police Beat Him, Seeks $50 Million : Violence: The city employee alleges that five officers shattered his leg during a drug arrest in which no charges have been filed.

A city garbage-truck driver Monday filed a $50-million claim against the city of Los Angeles, alleging that five police officers knocked him to the ground, shattering his right kneecap and leg, when he questioned why they had stopped him outside a Pacoima burrito stand.

The alleged beating of the off-duty driver, Vernell Ramsey Jr. of Pacoima, took place in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division, the same San Fernando Valley patrol area where Altadena parolee Rodney G. King was stopped and clubbed by officers after a car chase March 3.

Like King, the 41-year-old Ramsey is black. He said he believes that race played a role in his arrest Aug. 16. “I feel that in my heart,” said Ramsey, who remained hospitalized in fair condition Monday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Panorama City.

“They had no reason to do that,” he said. “And I wasn’t under the influence of anything, so I know they couldn’t feel like their lives were threatened.”

Capt. Tim McBride, Foothill’s commanding officer, declined to discuss details of the incident Monday, but he said it was under investigation by a patrol supervisor at the division. The officers involved remain on active duty, he said.

“I’m disturbed by any allegation of misconduct by officers that work at Foothill, and we’ll investigate and determine whether the officers’ actions were appropriate or not and take appropriate action,” McBride said.

“We’re working very hard to not get any complaints and to treat everybody with as much dignity as possible,” he said.

McBride declined to identify the officers under investigation but said they were assisting narcotics officers conducting a “sting-like operation” when Ramsey was stopped about 11:30 p.m. as he left a burrito stand at Van Nuys Boulevard and Tamarack Street.

Ramsey was taken into custody on suspicion of possessing cocaine, McBride said. No charges were filed. But McBride said that the narcotics investigation continues and that he expected drug charges against Ramsey to be filed.

Ramsey’s attorney, William A. Lorden, said he doubted that drug charges could be sustained against his client because “no narcotics were found.” Ramsey said his only other brushes with the law were two arrests for drunk driving.

In describing his arrest, Ramsey said from his hospital bed Monday that he had just begun driving away from El Indio, a burrito stand, with his uncle when police surrounded the car and jumped out of their squad cars with pistols drawn.

Ramsey said he got out of his uncle’s car and put up his hands, as he was told, but asked the police several times why he had been stopped.

“I said, ‘Officers, I didn’t do anything wrong. Can I please be told why I am being stopped?’ ” Ramsey recalled.

He said the third time he questioned the police, he was forced to the pavement and his leg cracked audibly under the weight of five officers on top of him. He also said one officer kicked that same leg, and another struck him on the arm with a baton.

“It was just like they went crazy with no reason at all,” Ramsey said. “I’m a married man; I work for the city of L. A. and I got eight children. I keep wondering why they did me like that. I just can’t come to no conclusions why.”

Ramsey said he was taken to Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley, then to the jail ward at County-USC Medical Center. Ramsey said that while he was at Pacifica, he asked to be taken to Kaiser, where he has health insurance, and was told by one of the officers: “Either you’ll be treated here or we’re going to take your . . . to the county and you won’t have anything for pain.”

Ramsey said he underwent surgery to repair the bones in his leg and faces more surgery to repair his kneecap. His uncle, Roger Elliott, also of Pacoima, was questioned by police and released unharmed.

The city has 45 days to review Ramsey’s claim and decide whether to settle. If the city rejects Ramsey’s claim, he can then file a lawsuit.