Opinion ID: 3003518
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Luis Franco, Jr.

Text: Luis testified that, when the group reached the restaurant, he walked over to some customers, including Aran10 No. 08-2658 da’s wife, who were standing outside. As Luis was talking to Aranda’s wife, Officer Pantoja was aggressively telling everyone to leave. Luis and Jose left the restaurant parking lot together; while they were walking, Luis heard an officer call out for Jose to be arrested. The officers then converged on Jose and began beating him; Luis was yelling at the officers to stop. At that point Luis’s wife, who is not a party to this suit, told him to leave immediately; Luis and his wife then crossed the street and began walking down the footpath away from the restaurant. They stopped only when they heard an officer yell out for Luis to be arrested. Luis told his wife to keep walking. The next thing he knew, he was knocked to the ground by an officer, later identified as Officer Neff. Officer Neff asked a nearby civilian to guard Luis; Luis was not handcuffed immediately. After a while, two or three officers came over to Luis and handcuffed him. One of the officers then picked up a police hat that was lying on the ground near Luis, called him a “fucking thief,” and threw the hat in his face. Luis recalled that he was then picked up from behind and slammed into the hood of a car before being put into the back of a police car. Luis was later charged with one count of mob action on the basis of Officer Pantoja’s signed complaint. Officer Pantoja, however, later admitted that he did not see Luis engage in any illegal conduct, and the charge was dismissed. The defendants’ account of Luis’s arrest is thin on detail. They said that Officer Neff saw Luis leaving the restaurant. Neff ran after him because Neff earlier had No. 08-2658 11 observed Luis in a crowd that was pushing and shoving officers to prevent the arrest of Jose. Officer Neff “caught up to Luis,” observed a police hat in his hand, asked him why he had the cap, and told him to get on the ground. Officer Neff then left Luis and returned to the restaurant. Other officers later handcuffed Luis and placed him in a squad car. Again, squad car videos shed some light on what actually occurred. The video from squad car 862 (“Video 862”) shows a man and a woman (apparently Luis and his wife) walking across Ramona Avenue away from La Rosa. Luis and his wife are both wearing white tops and are walking down a footpath on Villa Street away from the scene of Jose’s arrest; they first appear on the video at 4:59:30. Approximately 20 seconds later, an officer (presumably Officer Neff), is visible in Videos 862 and 857 jogging across Ramona Avenue toward the retreating couple. At 4:59:53, Video 862 shows Luis turn to face Officer Neff while his wife continues to walk away. Moments later Officer Neff reaches Luis. At 5:00:01, both videos show Officer Neff standing in front of Luis pointing toward the ground. Officer Neff shoves Luis forcefully to the ground, where he remains for some time. An arriving police truck pulls up, blocking much of the view from squad cars 862 and 857 at 5:00:41. Less than a minute later, however, both videos show Officer Neff jogging back across the street to the restaurant parking lot. Video 857 shows him standing there talking to people for about one minute. In the meantime, Video 862 depicts yet another police car pulling up on Villa Street near 12 No. 08-2658 the spot where Luis had been shoved to the ground. At 5:01:30 the police car shines its search light in the direction of Luis and an officer exits the vehicle. Shortly thereafter, Officer Neff is seen jogging across Ramona Avenue for a second time. At 5:02:41, Luis is led to the adjacent police car. Following a 30-second period where Luis and the officers are next to the car but it is difficult to see what is going on, Luis is put into the back seat of the vehicle. Seconds later, three officers can be seen crossing back over the street toward La Rosa.