Congratulations to Peter L. Carr, IV, and the trial team at PLC Law Group, APC, on securing a $6.789 million federal jury verdict against the City of Los Angeles and LAPD officers in a landmark civil rights case tried in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The December 2025 verdict represents a significant holding on police accountability, disability rights, and municipal responsibility.
On August 27, 2019, a welfare check was requested by the California Veterans Crisis Hotline. LAPD officers arrived at the apartment of a disabled military veteran and were permitted to enter the residence. Once inside, an officer began searching the apartment without justification. When the resident objected and explained that the hotline call was false and that no assistance was needed, the encounter escalated.
After the officers became condescending, the resident exercised his constitutional right to ask them to leave. They refused. When he attempted to call 911 to complain about their conduct, an officer forcibly took the phone from his hand and arrested him without probable cause.
Despite clearly disclosing a spinal injury and radiculopathy and requesting to be handcuffed in front as a reasonable accommodation, the officers refused and handcuffed him behind his back. This caused severe pain and resulted in lasting nerve damage to his wrist.
Rather than transporting him to the nearby VA Medical Center where he regularly received care, the officers took him to Good Samaritan Hospital. There, he was subjected to involuntary medical procedures, including the non-consensual insertion of a catheter, which caused injury, infection, and significant emotional trauma.
Defendants alleged that he was detained under California Welfare and Institutions Code section 5150, despite evidence showing he posed no danger to himself or others and was not gravely disabled. The jury later found that the detention and treatment violated multiple constitutional protections.
Aside from the constitutional violations, another central focus of the case was whether the City of Los Angeles’ had notice of the unfitness of their officers.
Evidence showed that Officer Jeremy Wheeler had a 15-year documented history of substance abuse, serious mental health diagnoses, and misconduct, all known to the City through LAPD records. Despite this history, the City failed to conduct a fitness-for-duty evaluation, impose enhanced supervision, or implement meaningful return-to-duty standards.
Just two months before the incident, Officer Wheeler’s commanding officer intervened to suppress a restraining order sought by Wheeler’s estranged wife, opting instead for informal internal measures that avoided formal documentation.
The plaintiff alleged, and the jury agreed, that the City had knowledge of Officer Wheeler’s unfitness and was directly liable for their negligent supervision of him.
The jury found for the plaintiff on federal civil rights claims brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, including unlawful detention, retaliation for exercising First Amendment rights, and violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act for failing to provide reasonable accommodations during a law enforcement encounter.
State law claims included battery, false arrest and imprisonment, negligence, and negligent hiring, retention, and supervision.
In December 2025, the jury returned a verdict awarding:
1. $6,616,000 in compensatory damages, reflecting physical injuries, lasting nerve damage, emotional distress, and constitutional violations
2. $173,000 in punitive damages against the individual officers, signaling findings of malicious or reckless disregard for constitutional rights
The verdict stands as a powerful affirmation that municipalities can be held accountable when they ignore known risks and fail to protect the public, particularly vulnerable individuals with disabilities.
Advocate Capital is proud to support firms like PLC Law Group, APC, that take on complex, high-risk civil rights cases in pursuit of accountability and justice.
We commend Peter L. Carr, IV, Na’Shaun L. Neal, and Lauren K. McRae of PLC Law Group, APC for their tireless advocacy on behalf of their client and for pursuing justice in a case that will have lasting impact beyond this single verdict.
