2 Agents Say L.A. Police Abused Them

In an unusual case pitting federal officers against local police, two undercover immigration agents are suing Los Angeles Police Department officers for allegedly using excessive force after failing to recognize the agents were in law enforcement.

One of the agents was on a stakeout investigating counterfeit identity sales in the Rampart Division area when police pulled over his undercover Camaro for an expired registration tag.

When it was over, one of the agents had been wrestled to the ground, and both were handcuffed and under arrest.

“This is a DWB case -- driving while black,” said Howard Price, attorney for Agent Shawn Butler, who is black. “He would not have been treated the way he was had he not been black.”

The agents, in their civil rights lawsuit, said police used excessive force. But lawyers for the five LAPD officers say the agents precipitated an altercation by being uncooperative and belligerent.

They also accuse plaintiff Ezequiel Garcia -- who complained of pain, nightmares and depression after the incident -- of exaggerating his injuries or attributing preexisting conditions to the arrest. Garcia said he had to undergo surgery to repair injuries to his shoulders after officers forced him to the ground.

“The officers didn’t do anything wrong,” said Deputy City Atty. Christian Bojorquez, co-counsel for Officers Dikran Melkonian, Claudia Sapien, Javier Mora, Roger Ruggiero and Steven Chung.

The trial began last week and is expected to conclude next month, after a recess because one of the attorneys underwent a medical procedure.

The city of Los Angeles was dismissed as a defendant, but, as the officers’ employer, will have to pay if they are found liable, lawyers said.

The case began with a Jan. 11, 2000, traffic stop on James M. Wood Boulevard, a high-crime neighborhood just west of downtown Los Angeles.

In 2001, U.S. District Judge Manuel Real threw out Butler’s claims, and a jury decided against Garcia. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the verdict, and, without explaining why, took the case away from Real.

“The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, could easily support a verdict in their favor on the dismissed claims,” appellate judges wrote, in a one-page opinion that nullified the jury verdict.

The case is now before U.S. District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew. Before trial, attorneys for both sides decided that the LAPD Rampart corruption scandal should not be mentioned, out of concern it would bias the jury. The defendants were not part of that scandal.

During the trial, Butler testified that he showed police his federal badge and repeatedly tried to convince them he was in law enforcement, but they wouldn’t believe him.

Officers responded that Butler was uncooperative and that they were suspicious because a police database turned up nothing for the Camaro’s license plate, which made them think the vehicle might have been stolen.

The federal agents say it’s standard for law enforcement cars to have no history in the database.

Garcia heard Butler’s radio call for help, drove to the scene and approached Mora, saying, “Code 5. Code 5. We’ve got a Code 5” -- police jargon for “surveillance,” Mora testified. But Mora said the federal badge looked suspicious, so he took Garcia’s wallet to search for photo identification.

Mora said Garcia grew angry, spewed profanities and grabbed his wrist to get his wallet back.

“He committed battery on a police officer,” Mora said.

Several officers grabbed the federal agent and forced him to the ground, Mora testified.

“If he’s claiming to be in law enforcement, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Mora said. “I wanted to use the least amount of force I could use.... Based on his actions ... I would have been justified in using my baton [and] to kick him.”

Garcia screamed in pain, witnesses said, and an ambulance took him to a hospital. He had red marks all over his body, according to photos. A fellow agent testified he saw Garcia with “a large boot print on his shoulder and a heel-shaped bruise on his forehead.”

Garcia, who became an agent in 1991 and is now a supervisor with the renamed Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said he has been stopped by police more than 100 times while working undercover, often while driving a “low rider.”

“I guess it’s the profile,” he told his attorney, Douglas Walters, from the stand.