The Disney-owned ABC released this:
“On March 18 of last year, Mr. Simon, a member of our transportation team, was pulled over by Los Angeles police officers while he was working, removed roughly from his vehicle and treated in a manner that was overly aggressive and inappropriate,” the production company said in a statement. “We filed a formal request then with the LAPD for an immediate investigation into this matter and for the appropriate action to be taken promptly. We were disappointed to learn that no action was taken and support Mr. Simon in his complaint.”
Mr. Simon, who was working as a driver on the production of the popular television show Grey’s Anatomy as an employee of The Walt Disney Company,” says the suit filed Thursday in federal court against the LAPD, LAPD Chief Michel Moore, two unnamed officers and the City of Los Angeles.
“Mr. Simon—a thirty-one year old African American male—was targeted by LAPD police officers who, without any legal justification, initiated a racially motivated ‘high risk’ traffic stop,” reads the document, which seeks a jury trial.
Simon’s encounter with LAPD in March 2021 is one of many incidents involving Black Californians who are stopped by police at a disproportionately higher rate than other racial groups. According to the lawsuit, Simon is a driver for the production of Grey’s Anatomy and is a unionized Disney employee. His job entailed driving crewmembers and talent between the show’s filming location in Tarzana and the production’s base camp.
Simon says he noticed the LAPD vehicle at a four-way stop a short distance from the base camp and it followed him to the site. “Given that there was no reason to suspect Mr. Simon of committing any crime or traffic violation, the decision to pursue Mr. Simon — based solely on the fact that he was an African American male lawfully driving in the predominantly white neighborhood of Tarzana, California — constitutes racial profiling and discrimination in violation of Mr. Simon’s rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and California law,” writes attorney Stephen Larson in the complaint.
At the entrance of the production site, the officers were told by security that Simon was an employee and that he was driving a company van, the lawsuit says. They entered the area anyway and approached Simon with their guns drawn as he sat in the driver’s seat of the parked van.
“The Doe Officer Defendants continued to treat Mr. Simon in an overly hostile and extraordinarily dangerous manner despite several Disney crewmembers stating that Mr. Simon was an employee, that the van had been rented by Disney, and that Mr. Simon and the van were where they were supposed to be,” writes Larson.
“Instead of heeding those pleas, eight LAPD officers pointing their guns in his direction yelled at the crewmembers to ‘get out of the line of fire,’
Mr Simon argues that his prolonged detention in which he was forced to “lie spread eagle on the asphalt” for roughly 20 minutes, constitutes an arrest without probable cause.
His suit against the City of Los Angeles, LAPD Chief of Police Michel Moore and the two unnamed officers alleges unreasonable search and seizure, excessive force and racial profiling, among other claims.
The officers had checked Simon’s license plate and were mistakenly alerted that the van he was driving matched a BMW sedan that had been reported stolen, according to the lawsuit. Jonathan Phillips, representing Simon, says his client was driving a Ford van,
In March of 2021, they cops that murdered George Floyd hadn't yet went to trial and been convicted. But those stupid fucking morons had to know that racist aggression of LAPD was never going to be ignored... certainly on a tv show set location of Shonda Rhimes, ABC, and Disney. I hope the fucking assholes get fried, and that the jury gives compensatory damages that wreck the budget of the City Of Los Angeles, and the LAPD, and snap the mayor of LA's neck around to wonder how the hell the police could torpedo his run for govenor and chances of president.
Remember the half time show at the Super Bowl? How the hell can LAPD still be such racist morons?
it's been 34 years since NWA recorded Fuck The Police... the police have had a complete turnover of officers since then, but they haven't moved away from the racist foundation of the LAPD that transcends new officers replacing all the old guard.
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