Suit Challenges Law on Police Complaints

The American Civil Liberties Union sued Tuesday to overturn a California law that makes it a crime to knowingly file false misconduct charges against police officers.

Acting on behalf of an African American man from San Bernardino, the ACLU said in the federal court suit in Los Angeles that the law is having a chilling effect on people who want to complain about alleged police misconduct.

“We have brought this lawsuit so that concerned citizens can report abusive police officers without fear of retaliation,” said ACLU lawyer Dan Tokaji.

The law being challenged is the criminal counterpart to a civil law that empowered law enforcement officers to sue for personal damages when falsely accused of misconduct. A federal judge struck down the civil law last year.

In the San Bernardino case, La France Hamilton, a car detailer in his mid-40s, was stopped by police while riding his bicycle on March 3, 1999. After a brief verbal exchange, Hamilton said, the officers grabbed him around the throat, threw him to the ground, put a knee on his chest and placed him in handcuffs.

He was let go, he said, after being given a ticket for failing to display a required $1 city bicycle license.

After the episode, Hamilton went to the San Bernardino police station to lodge a complaint against the officers, according to the lawsuit.

He said the watch commander gave him a complaint form that included a warning that he could be prosecuted criminally if he knowingly made false accusations.

Hamilton said the watch commander reinforced the warning with a few stern words.

Intimidated, he left without filing the complaint, the suit said.

The ACLU contends in its lawsuit that the law is unconstitutional because it treats complaints against police officers differently from complaints against all other public officials.

In addition to asking that the law be struck down, Hamilton is seeking unspecified monetary damages from the city of San Bernardino for false arrest, battery, emotional distress, racial discrimination and violation of his civil rights.

Lt. William Smith, a San Bernardino police spokesman, said the department reviewed an audiotape of Hamilton’s confrontation with officers on the street and concluded that his allegations of misconduct “have no validity.”