Wave Staff Report
LOS ANGELES — A $6.8 million jury verdict has been rendered in favor of Slade Douglas in a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and two Los Angeles police officers.
The lawsuit stemmed from an incident in August 2019 when Douglas was arrested by Los Angeles police officers at his apartment after the officers were sent to the apartment by a call from an employee of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs who was angry that Douglas had filed a discrimination complaint against the agency.
“This verdict affirms that constitutional rights are not optional,” said Peter L. Carr IV, counsel for Slade Douglas.
The original lawsuit sought $30 million in damages.
The suit stems from an incident on Aug. 27, 2019, when two LAPD officers, Jeremy R. Wheeler and Jeffrey H. Yabana, arrived at Douglas’ apartment to conduct what the officers contended was a welfare check and that Douglas’ attorneys said was a government-initiated swatting incident.
It led to Douglas being arrested, forcibly taken to a hospital where Douglas maintains he was forcibly drugged and sexually assaulted.
Douglas said that he initially let the officers into his apartment but then asked them to leave. When they refused to leave, he dialed 911, which Officer Wheeler told him was against the law. Instead of being taken to the nearest police station, Douglas said he was transported by paramedics to PIH Good Samaritan Hospital near downtown where he was shackled in restraints, had blood drawn and was subjected to toxicology exams his attorneys described as torture under color of the law.
Once it was determined that Douglas had no drugs in his system, he was released from custody, according to his attorneys.
Douglas has lived in LosAngeles since 2012. Prior to that he was two-sport athlete — track and football — at Florida State University, a veteran of the U.S. Army and a one-time Golden Glove boxer.
After six years of legal battles, the case went to trial earlier this month with U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong presiding. In addition to Carr, Douglas was represented by Na’Shaun Neal and Lauren McRae.
Douglas’s story is also the subject of a feature documentary, Slade Douglas v. City of Los Angeles — The Veteran They Tried to Silence, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1Q99Er0n0Y.
