In Los Angeles, a woman has filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department after being ejected from a moving patrol car and sustaining critical injuries: Woman sues LAPD after falling out of patrol car.
28-year-old Kim Nguyen, a graduate student at Loyola Marymount University at the time, was out with friends last March when she was taken into custody by LAPD officers David Shin and Jin Oh on suspicion of public intoxication. She was handcuffed, placed in the back of a squad car and driven away.
At some point, Nguyen was ejected from the vehicle while it was moving, suffering serious injuries. A downtown building's surveillance camera captured part of the incident on video. The footage doesn't show Nguyen being ejected, but it shows her bloodied and bruised, lying unconscious on the street and still in handcuffs:
According to Nguyen's lawsuit, officers failed to secure her with a seatbelt or lock her door properly:
Casillas was able to obtain surveillance footage of the incident, which shows the LAPD car on Olympic Boulevard approaching Grand Avenue. The video (above) shows the patrol car driving through a green light, as opposed to what the officers told first responders -- that they were accelerating from a stop when they heard the door open.More here: Kim Nguyen Sues LAPD After Falling Out Of Moving Cop Car.
"The video shows that the statement that the police officers gave the paramedics is an unabashed, unequivocal lie," said Casillas during the press conference. The graphic footage shows Nguyen, still in handcuffs, laying on the street with her clothing bunched around her waist. Officers stand over her as her legs move back and forth on the ground.
"People aren't supposed to fall out of patrol cars," said Casillas.
After the fall from the car, Nguyen sustained a broken jaw and brain injuries, and had to be put in a medically induced coma to heal. She may still need to have brain surgery.