Kon v. City of Los Angeles

Filed 6/1/20 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

ALEKSANDR KON, B290929

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC583851) v.

CITY OF LOS ANGELES et al.,

Defendants and Respondents.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Lawrence Cho, Judge. Reversed. Lebedev, Michael & Helmi, Gennady L. Lebedev, Sam Helmi, and Genevieve Bourret-Roy for Plaintiff and Appellant. Vanderford & Ruiz, Rodolfo F. Ruiz, and Erin E. Uyeshima for Defendants and Respondents.

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The general issue is whether you can sue police in civil court for excessive force after you have been convicted in criminal court. Specifically, after interacting with an officer, a man was convicted of an infraction: disturbing the peace. Notwithstanding this conviction, can this man then sue the officer civilly for using excessive force during the episode? Yes, because the past conviction did not establish the officer used only reasonable force. The first criminal conviction thus is consistent with the second civil case, which may proceed. I On June 13, 2014, limousine driver Aleksandr Kon drove in a parking lot at the Los Angeles International Airport. Officer Damien Andrews pulled in behind Kon. Kon and Andrews disagree about what happened next. Kon says he got out of the car holding a phone and a sign with a customer’s name when Andrews aggressively approached and accused Kon of speeding, which Kon denied. Andrews returned to his motorcycle. Kon answered a call from his customer, but Andrews ran at Kon and tackled him. According to Kon, he was down when Andrews put his knee into Kon’s back, hit Kon, and handcuffed him. Paramedics took Kon to a hospital. Andrews says he saw Kon speeding in the parking lot. He asked for Kon’s driver’s license, insurance, and registration many times, but Kon refused. Kon approached Andrews. Andrews told Kon to step back and to put his cell phone down so he could handcuff Kon. Kon pulled away and resisted. Andrews was “eventually able to place [Kon] into handcuffs and subdue him.” The record includes only the minutes from the criminal proceeding.