LA Partners Tony Sain & Tori Bakken Win Police Civil Rights Trial in Federal Court Against Teen Plaintiff On Challenging “Take-Down” Case Inherited Just Three Months Before Trial Date
After agreeing to take on a new client’s case, just three months before the trial date, where the file had not been worked up according the high standards of Lewis’ Civil Rights & Police Litigation Defense Task Force, Los Angeles Partner Tony Sain and his team won a defense verdict in a federal jury trial in downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles, Calif. (April 22, 2025) - After agreeing to take on a new client’s case, just three months before the trial date, where the file had not been worked up according the high standards of Lewis’ Civil Rights & Police Litigation Defense Task Force, Los Angeles Partner Tony Sain and his team won a defense verdict in a federal jury trial in downtown Los Angeles.
In a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department police/civil rights use of force case, Mr. Sain and Los Angeles Partner Tori Bakken were able to prove that, after getting black-out intoxicated, in the middle of the night, a 19-year-old woman trespassed on a residential property, assaulted a civilian resident, and then resisted responding deputies’ efforts to take her into the safety/custody of a marked patrol car: pulling away after being handcuffed, performing a dead-weight drop resistance, and engaging in profanity-laden rejection of the deputies’ attempts to verbally de-escalate with her. Then, after observing this and obtaining more details from the reporting party about this young woman’s battery on a civilian, when the senior deputy tried to move the non-compliant teen woman to the safety of a patrol car, she kicked the deputy, and then bit him so hard that she drew blood, even through his shirt. This, in turn, prompted the deputy to follow his training and try to get her into the prone restraint position as fast as possible: through a standard takedown maneuver.
At trial, the young woman claimed the incident exacerbated her severe pre-existing mental injuries, as well as caused her temporary physical injuries in the form of graphic bruises and scrapes to her face.
However, despite aggressive litigation by her attorneys, after just under three hours of deliberations, the jury delivered a unanimous defense verdict on all claims.