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Family sues LAPD claiming officers intentionally hit teen on motorbike
The family of a 16-year-old boy are suing LAPD alleging officers intentionally struck the teen while he was on his motorbike.
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Police Department, along with the City of Los Angeles, are the target of a new lawsuit.
The family of a16-year-old allege police officers intentionally rammed the teen's motorbike with their patrol vehicle and seriously injured him.
What we know:
The incident reportedly took place not far from LAPD headquarters near Grand and Washington Avenue.
The family of 16-year-old K.W. and their attorneys stood outside the Los Angeles Federal Court House Friday demanding justice for the teen. They claim while K.W. was riding his motorbike with friends in February, LAPD officers struck his bike without any sirens or commands to pull over.
"This never should have happened," said attorney Ben Crump.
The renowned civil rights attorney is one of several attorneys representing the family.
"Thats why we are here to make sure that they don't think it’s okay to do this to our children," he added.
The complaint alleges excessive force, assault and negligence. The family’s attorneys say K.W. suffered life-threatening injuries as well as facial trauma, multiple fractures and organ damage.
"At the time I didn't even know he was in the hospital," said K.W.’s mother, Shalayla Thompson.
She says she found out her son was seriously injured and in the hospital when a nurse called saying her son was trying to get in contact with her.
"I was finally able to hold my son, see my son, and they gave him a 20% chance of living because the internal bleeding was so bad," said Thompson.
The family’s attorneys said they have not seen any dashcam or potential bodycam video, but for the sake of transparency, they are calling on LAPD to release video related to the incident.
"It goes deeper than that. Today it was Shalayla’s 16-year-old son and if we don't hold them accountable then next time it could be your son," said Crump.
The other side:
FOX 11 has reached out to LAPD for a response to this lawsuit, but the department says they don't comment on pending litigation.
The Source: Information for this story came from attorey Ben Crump and K.W's mother Shalayla Thompson.