Jury Awards $710,000 for Stockton Police False Arrest and Excessive Force Against Teen
After trial: The plaintiff waived punitive damages in exchange for the defendants waiving appeal and agreeing to pay within 60 days, according to KQED. We could not confirm payment.
Won by Scottsdale Injury Lawyers LLC.
A San Joaquin County jury found on January 22, 2020 that a Stockton police officer falsely arrested a 16-year-old in a gas station store in 2011 and used excessive force, knocking out two of his front teeth. It found the officer's partner failed to stop the force and that the officer acted with malice, oppression or fraud. The jury awarded $710,000, and the defendants waived their appeal.
What happened
On February 17, 2011, a 16-year-old boy walked into a gas station convenience store in Stockton, California, to buy candy for his 5-year-old sister. The clerk refused the damaged dollar bill he tried to pay with. A plainclothes Stockton police officer, Robert Johnson, was standing in line behind him and stepped into the exchange.
The accounts of what followed differed. Johnson wrote that he told the teenager to leave and was cursed at. The teenager said Johnson escalated the situation first. As the teenager walked toward the exit, Johnson grabbed him, pulled him back inside and arrested him for trespassing and resisting arrest. Surveillance video recorded a struggle that lasted about 10 minutes. Johnson said he punched the teenager on the ground to keep him from spitting blood on him. The teenager and his lawyer said Johnson slammed his head into the floor and pressed his full body weight on him, making it hard to breathe. His partner, Officer Robert Wong, was also on scene.
The teenager lost two front teeth and bled on the store floor.
The civil case was filed in San Joaquin County Superior Court and went to a jury, with attorney Charles "Tony" Piccuta representing the plaintiff. It was delayed for years by the City of Stockton's bankruptcy. The jury heard Johnson's testimony, including his explanation that he photographed shopping baskets he had moved to show how narrow the aisle was, and weighed it against the video. On January 22, 2020, nearly nine years after the arrest, it found that Johnson had falsely arrested the plaintiff and used excessive force. It found that Wong had failed to stop the excessive force and had played a part in the false arrest. The jury also found that Johnson acted with malice, oppression or fraud, and awarded $710,000 against Johnson, Wong and the City of Stockton: $275,000 for past pain and suffering, $155,000 for future pain and suffering and $280,000 as a penalty under California's Bane Act, which covers interference with constitutional rights by threats or force. Johnson was found responsible on every claim.
Punitive damages were not put to the jury. The plaintiff agreed not to request them, and in exchange the defendants waived their right to appeal and agreed to pay the award within 60 days. Both officers were still working for the Stockton Police Department when the verdict came in.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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