LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) – A man convicted of disturbing the peace is allowed to sue the police for excessive force, a California appeals court has ruled.
On June 1, the Second Appellate District of the Court of Appeal of California ruled in favor of Aleksandr Kon, a limo driver arrested at Los Angeles International after a scuffle with a police officer. The court was asked whether someone convicted of a crime could file an excessive force lawsuit after.
“Yes, because the past conviction did not establish the officer used only reasonable force,” Justice John Wiley wrote.
“The first criminal conviction thus is consistent with the second civil case, which may proceed.”
It is disputed what happened after Officer Damien Andrews followed Kon to a parking lot at LAX. Kon says Andrews aggressively approached him and accused him of speeding, then tackled him while Kon answered a call from the traveler he was picking up.
Kon says the officer put a knee in his back and handcuffed him. Paramedics took him to a hospital.
Andrews says he asked Kon for his license, insurance and registration several times but Kon would not comply. Andrews says it was Kon who was the aggressor, though he was eventually able to subdue him.
Kon was charged with resisting arrest but it was reduced to disturbing the peace. He changed a not guilty plea to the first offense to a no contest plea to the second. Weeks later in June 2015, he sued Andrews, the airport and its police force.
Kon’s lawsuit has so far been successful, as he was granted summary adjudication on his negligent hiring claim. The trial court said his excessive force claim was barred but it will now be reinstated.
“No transcript or anything else from the criminal case established Andrews used force that was only reasonable,” Wiley wrote. “Whether the force in this case was reasonable remains unresolved to this day.”