Plaintiff in Suit Against Deputies Wins Acquittal

A key plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that accuses Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies of engaging in a pattern of brutality has been acquitted of charges he threatened a deputy with a gun before being shot by the officer last May.

Elzie Coleman was found not guilty Wednesday in Compton Superior Court of illegally possessing and brandishing a handgun during the May 25 incident in the Willowbrook area of Los Angeles. Civil rights attorneys said Thursday that the acquittal of Coleman, who was shot six times by a deputy, bolsters their claim that the Sheriff’s Department gives unofficial sanction to deputies filing false charges in order to hide their own misconduct.

However, Patrick T. Meyers, lead counsel for the defense in the federal suit, said that “we think that the shooting was justified and we believe Mr. Coleman had a weapon.” He called the acquittal’s impact on the civil case “insubstantial.” Coleman is among more than 70 plaintiffs in a civil rights lawsuit that accuses deputies of engaging “in systematic acts of . . . brutality,” especially against Latinos and blacks.