Los Angeles County has been hit with a federal civil rights lawsuit more than a year after the controversial arrests of three black teens in Paramount was caught on video.
During the traffic stop last June, three people apparently on a joyride were pulled over by two L.A. County Sheriff’s Department deputies. At one point, while their guns were drawn, the female deputy accidentally fired into the vehicle the teens were in.
“Dude I totally A-D’d, Jesus Christ” the female deputy could be heard saying in the bodycam video referring to the accidental discharge.
“How many people are in the car? You guys all right?” a male deputy called out.
Before the teens, two of them minors, were ordered out of the vehicle, several pops are heard in the video.
“Dude what the hell is going on?” the female deputy asks as sirens are heard in the background.
“They’re throwing off firecrackers behind us,” another deputy responds.
“All right, are we going to start extracting the driver?” the female deputy continues.
The teens were eventually ordered out of the stolen car, onto the ground and taken into custody.
The mothers of two of the teens only recently watched the bodycam footage of the arrests.
“Hearing about it, it hurt me, but actually seeing that video, I just want to know why. I don’t understand it, but on top of that, my son is in therapy, he has nightmares,” one of the mothers, Tyisha Brooks, told KTLA.
The women hired Santa Monica-based civil rights attorney Caree Harper and are calling for more and better training for deputies.
Harper said the teens found the car keys and went for a joyride when they were pulled over and the deputy shot at them.
“If it would have went inches to the left or to the right, we would have a dead young man today, as opposed to three traumatized teenagers,” the attorney said.
In a statement to KTLA Thursday, the Sheriff’s Department said it does not comment on pending litigation.