Civil Rights Violations

Anaheim will pay a man in state prison $2.5 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging police used excessive force when he was run over by a patrol car while standing on the sidewalk surrendering to police. Jose L. Munoz had his hands in the air and was facing a police officer who approached him on foot when Officer Eddie Ruiz drove a cruiser on the sidewalk and hit him from behind at 32 mph, the lawsuit alleges.

After investigating two new complaints of workplace mistreatment, federal officials have accused the Los Angeles Fire Department of violating civil rights laws by subjecting African American and female firefighters to a "pattern and practice" of discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

The New Orleans district attorney lost his fight Wednesday against a ruling that said he violated the civil rights of dozens of white employees when he fired them after taking office in 2003 and replaced them with black workers. Orleans Parish prosecutor Eddie Jordan said he filled key positions with political supporters and did not discriminate based on race when he took over from longtime Dist. Atty. Harry Connick Sr. in 2003; he fired 53 of 77 employees.

Just hours after a San Bernardino County jury's acquittal Thursday of a former sheriff's deputy in the videotaped shooting of an Air Force enlisted man, the airman's family called on the U.S. attorney's office to pursue civil rights violation charges against Webb. But a number of legal experts said the swift acquittal of Ivory John Webb Jr., coupled with the absence of allegations of racism, made federal charges unlikely.

A Middle Eastern man jailed for nearly four years must be released by June 8 because the government, which wants to deport him, has taken too long to find a country that will take him, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Court Judge Jerome B. Friedman said in his order issued Friday that the government violated Majed Talat Hajbeh's constitutional rights and that he must be released within 14 days of the order.

A federal judge has ruled that some Los Angeles police tactics in patrolling downtown are unconstitutional, raising questions about the city's successful campaign to dramatically reduce the number of crimes and homeless people. U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson found that officers question -- and at times search -- parolees and probationers without evidence that they might have committed a crime, which the judge said was unconstitutional. He ordered the LAPD to change its practices.

A second former employee of an Anaheim vocational academy has been charged in the alleged beatings of two disabled adults -- an incident that was recorded on his cellphone, officials said Friday. Michael Douglas Rama, 24, a former employee of the Jossen Vocational Academy, was charged with felony violation of civil rights and false imprisonment of a dependent adult in connection with the alleged beatings in March and April 2006.

The Anti-Defamation League on Thursday honored the federal agents and prosecutors involved in convicting four members of a Latino street gang in Highland Park last year for violating the civil rights of African Americans with a campaign of threats and violence, including murder. The group noted that the case against the Avenues gang "broke new ground as the first time a street gang was convicted of violating federal hate crime laws."

In a manufactured house in the pine forests of central Oregon, where the glassy Deschutes River winds through the landscape like a musical theme, Michel Shehadeh counts the days. Twenty more, and, assuming the United States government takes no further action, his 20-year ordeal will end. Seven hundred miles to the south, amid tract houses and dry pasture lands near Chino Hills, Khader Hamide counts, too.

A federal immigration judge has dismissed the government's attempt to deport two men who were arrested along with six other U.S. residents because of their alleged ties to Palestinian terrorists and who fought relentless efforts to force them to leave the country for 20 years. Judge Bruce E. Einhorn of Los Angeles, in a ruling made public Tuesday, said the government had violated the constitutional rights of Khader M. Hamide and Michel I.