Civil Rights Violations

An anti-drug activist who was arrested as a suspected child molester--but then released as innocent--has filed a federal court lawsuit alleging that Los Angeles police violated his civil rights and smeared his reputation. James Elliott Singletary of Encino, who was jailed for four days last year amid mounting public furor over attacks on children by the so-called Valley molester, was arrested mainly because he is black, said attorney Marion R. Yagman, who filed the suit Monday in U.S.

Racial profiling by police is notoriously difficult to prove. That's not, as former Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton used to insist, because it's uniquely difficult to get inside an officer's head and determine why he pulled over this suspect or that. Analyzing the intent behind offenses is actually fairly commonplace - it undergirds hate-crime prosecutions, many assaults (a murder, for instance, is distinguishable from manslaughter by the intent of the perpetrator) and even civil rights violations, which generally must be committed with the intent to deprive a person of a protected right.

Armed with videotapes of law enforcement officers methodically swabbing liquid pepper spray into the eyes of nonviolent protesters, attorneys sued the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department and the Eureka Police Department on Thursday for violating the civil rights of environmental demonstrators.

The county's transportation agency on Monday released a one-year action plan to address civil rights violations cited in a federal audit. The audit criticized the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for not doing enough to accommodate riders who speak little or no English and faulted the organization for poor planning. The audit found that a language other than English is spoken in 54% of homes in the county. In one section of the audit , which was also released Monday by the Federal Transit Administration, an examiner described a group of community members upset "with the lack of translated hand-out materials at public hearings and meetings.

A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who allegedly punched and pointed a gun at a man being treated in an Antelope Valley emergency room was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on charges of violating federal civil rights laws. The case against Deputy Henry Meyers, 30, was brought after the Sheriff's Department reported his conduct to federal authorities.

A Burbank Superior Court jury has found that six Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies did not violate the civil rights of a Montrose man jailed three years ago for resisting arrest. The jury deliberated for three days before rejecting a $5-million civil suit filed by Thomas Alan, in which he charged civil rights violations, battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Neither Alan nor his attorney, Michael J. Schiff, could be reached for comment.

The FBI will investigate possible civil rights violations in a series of bombings and suspicious fires at offices of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Santa Ana, Washington and Boston, the Justice Department said Thursday. The announcement marked a broadening of federal involvement in the incidents, which have resulted in one death and a serious injury.

A Los Angeles federal court jury Monday ordered two white detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill Division to pay more than $15,000 in damages for violating the civil rights of a black family during a search in Van Nuys. The jury deliberated less than a day before awarding the damages to Robbie Townsend, 49, and her two nephews, Dennis Thomas, 25, and Michael Thomas, 22. Townsend's son, Eric Brown, listed also as a plaintiff, received nothing.

Four Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies are targets of a federal civil rights investigation into the 1987 beating and kicking of a truck driver who later received a $150,000 lawsuit settlement from the county, The Times has learned. Federal prosecutors and FBI agents have been questioning witnesses who say they saw deputies batter Coy Blane Willbanks with nightsticks and flashlights after his truck was found blocking parking spaces at a south Whittier mini-market.

Sixty-four Thai garment workers who told authorities they were held against their will in an El Monte sweatshop filed a civil lawsuit against their alleged captors Tuesday, seeking several hundred million dollars from 11 factory operators whom they accused of involuntary servitude, false imprisonment, racketeering, assault, and civil rights and labor law violations.

Kadafi must go Re "The Libya calculation," Editorial, March 25 You raised some valid points in your editorial, but you missed an important one. We are in Libya to take "all necessary measures" to protect civilians. Doesn't this imply removing Moammar Kaddafi from power? Otherwise, unless by some miracle the rebels defeat him, he can simply wait until we tire of this operation and declare "victory" and go home — then he will exact revenge on his people and may even attack the U.S. or Europe (think Lockerbie)

Here is a recap of investigations into public finances in Bell: L.A. County district attorney's office: Prosecutors charged eight current and former Bell officials with public corruption; the office is now investigating fees charged to businesses. U.S. Justice Department: It is investigating possible civil rights violations by the city. California attorney general's office: It filed civil lawsuits against Bell officials and is seeking oversight of Bell affairs.

The U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation into possible civil rights violations in Bell, focusing in part on allegations that the city improperly used towing fees and other city fines to generate revenues. Law enforcement sources told The Times that the investigation is looking at whether Bell officials violated the civil rights of Latino residents by aggressively towing cars and charging residents exorbitant fees to get their vehicles back. Federal officials are also looking into complaints about other ways the city tried to boost revenues, including through aggressive code enforcement, the sources said.

An Irvine man who says he worked as an undercover informant for the FBI, most notably as a Muslim convert in an anti-terrorism case, filed a lawsuit Friday accusing his law enforcement handlers of violating his civil rights and endangering his life. Craig Monteilh, 47, says he worked as an informant for the FBI from 2004 through 2008, providing information and assistance in narcotics, bank robbery and murder for hire investigations before being asked to go undercover as part of an anti-terrorist effort in Orange County, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

A man wrongfully convicted of killing his mother and freed after serving 26 years in prison filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Los Angeles police detectives of framing him. Bruce Lisker, 44, contends his civil rights were violated by the city of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Police Department and the former detectives who investigated his mother's March 10, 1983, slaying, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court. "It wasn't an innocent mistake, and those responsible should be held accountable," said attorney William Genego, who represents Lisker.

A decorated Burbank Police Department sergeant who was named in an FBI probe shot and killed himself on a residential street corner Thursday, authorities said. Burbank police responding to a "shots fired" call about 11:40 a.m. near North Sunset Canyon Drive at East Harvard Road found Neil Thomas Gunn, 50, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police officials called the death of the 22-year veteran "a devastating tragedy" and said the investigation into what led to the suicide would be handled by the neighboring Glendale Police Department.

FBI agents are investigating possible civil rights violations at the maximum security Corcoran State Prison near Fresno, where seven inmates have been shot to death by guards since the prison opened in 1988, officials said Wednesday. The investigation began at Corcoran within the past month and has entailed interviews with prison guards, inmates and officials.

FBI officials confirmed Wednesday that they are investigating possible civil rights violations alleged by officers at the Burbank Police Department. FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller would not comment on specifics of the probe by the agency's civil rights division or how long the probe would last. At least seven lawsuits alleging a pattern of racial discrimination and retaliation, as well as unlawful demotions or firings, have been filed by officers against the department. Burbank Mayor Gary Bric said he was confident that the investigations into the department, which also includes an independent probe by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, would be thorough and complete.

Then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft violated the rights of U.S. citizens in the fevered wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by ordering arrests on material witness warrants when the government lacked probable cause, a federal appeals court said in a scathing opinion Friday. In a ruling that said Ashcroft could be sued for prosecutorial abuses, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the former attorney general immunity from liability for how he used the material witness warrants in national security investigations.