Man Files Lawsuit in Rampart Scandal
A Guatemalan national who says he and his girlfriend were beaten, robbed and terrorized by Rampart Division police officers filed a $20-million civil rights lawsuit against city officials Thursday in federal court.
Jorge Toscano contends in his suit that former officer Rafael Perez, the central figure in the Rampart police corruption scandal, and his partner, Nino Durden, beat and robbed him on April 1, 1997.
Perez and Durden, joined by LAPD officers Arturo Rico and Kulin Patel, then threatened to kill him or turn him in to immigration authorities unless he agreed to finger neighborhood drug dealers, the suit charges.
Toscano’s girlfriend, Cynthia Diaz, filed her own lawsuit over the incident in January.
Perez, who blew the whistle on fellow anti-gang officers after he was caught stealing cocaine from a police evidence locker, has admitted that he and Durden stole the couple’s money, according to police transcripts.
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