CHP Officer Sued by ACLU Over Threat

A California Highway Patrol officer who threatened to sue a deaf motorist who filed a complaint against him was sued Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union for allegedly violating the disabled man’s freedom of speech.

CHP Officer Richard Gibson had written a letter to the disabled man, Jason Kaldani of Virginia, threatening to file a defamation of character lawsuit against him that would seek $5,000 in damages.

Kaldani had filed a complaint with the CHP, accusing Gibson of refusing to make accommodations for his disability and treating him inappropriately.

“The retaliatory threat of a frivolous lawsuit by a police officer such as Officer Gibson is nothing less than an attempt to handcuff the 1st Amendment guarantee of the right to petition for redress of grievances,” ACLU lawyer David Schwartz said.

“Law enforcement agencies must keep open channels of communication with the public to hear not only praise for officer behavior, but also criticism.”

Calls to Gibson were routed to CHP spokesman Ernie Garcia, who said Gibson would have no comment until the lawsuit could be reviewed.

Gibson pulled over Kaldani on the southbound Golden State Freeway in Newhall in January. Kaldani was charged with traveling 80 mph in a 65 mph zone and later paid a fine, said David Schwartz, senior staff attorney for the ACLU in Los Angeles.

According to the transcript of a call Kaldani made in May to the CHP (Kaldani was using a TTY unit that allowed him to type his part of the conversation and receive written responses), he asked the officer to write down why he was pulled over.

“But he [the officer] refused and he decided to look around in my car and opened my glove compartment and took my wallet without my permission,” Kaldani stated.

In the suit, Kaldani claims the officer kept speaking to him, ignoring the fact that Kaldani was deaf.

Kaldani filed a formal complaint with the CHP, alleging mistreatment. CHP officials later wrote to Kaldani, saying Gibson had been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Several months later Gibson sent a letter to Kaldani, threatening to file a lawsuit in small claims court and seeking $5,000 and an apology as a “direct result of the citizen’s complaint you filed against me with my employer.”

“I am sorry this had to come to this, but you brought it upon yourself,” Gibson wrote. “The next time you are contacted by a peace officer and you are treated in a professional manner, you might think twice about being vindictive, just because you received a traffic citation.”

ACLU staff attorney Dan Tokaji characterized Gibson as a “bully.”

“Officer Gibson’s threat gives new meaning to the phrase frivolous lawsuit,” Tokaji said. “His job is to stop speeders, not to stop speech.”

Schwartz said an officer can file a lawsuit alleging defamation if it can be proved a person filed a false complaint or did so maliciously. But Gibson’s threat falls short, Schwartz said, saying Kaldani only requested in his complaint that the officer complete a sensitivity training course to better deal with deaf people.

A Los Angeles Police Department officer recently collected a settlement from a citizen who filed a complaint. After an internal investigation cleared her of any wrongdoing, Sgt. Jeri Weinstein sued a Woodland Hills woman who filed the complaint. The officer won a $3,000 out-of-court settlement.