The Veteran they tried to silence

Special to Texas Metro News

A $6.8 million jury verdict ruled in favor of Slade Douglas in a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and two Los Angeles police officers. 

Court records describe a government-orchestrated swatting initiated by the Department of Veterans Affairs in retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of veterans, leading to Douglas’s false arrest on August 27, 2019 by officers Jeremy R. Wheeler and Jeffrey H. Yabana. Following that arrest, Douglas was forcibly hospitalized, drugged, and sexually assaulted under color of law.

The court record establishes that the police response was triggered by a false report to emergency services, commonly known as swatting. Swatting involves the intentional use of a false emergency report to provoke a law-enforcement response.

A swatting incident is fundamentally different from a welfare check.

A welfare check implies that authorities were responding to a legitimate concern about an individual’s wellbeing. The court record instead states that the report initiating the police response was false.

Describing the event as a welfare check, therefore, replaces the factual description contained in the federal case with a materially different narrative.

The City of Los Angeles chose to retain, arm, and deploy Officer Wheeler despite knowing that he presented a known risk due to his documented alcohol abuse, serious mental health conditions including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and a prior 5150 mental health hold. Wheeler also had prior violent conduct including a domestic threat reported to the LAPD by his ex-wife who was dissuaded from seeking a restraining order, and residential treatment at the Betty Ford Clinic.

Douglas initially let the officers into his apartment but then asked them to leave. When they refused to leave, he dialed 911, which Officer Wheeler told him was against the law.

Subsequently, Officers Wheeler and Yabana, joined by Sgt. Andrew Kang and Los Angeles Fire Department personnel, transported Douglas in custody to PIH Good Samaritan Hospital, a facility contracted by the City, after body-worn camera footage captured officers stating that the transport was undertaken to protect the City and the officers from liability.

At the hospital, Douglas was double handcuffed to a gurney and subjected to nine forced injections, invasive blood draws, exhaustive toxicology tests, and genital penetration through forced catheterization, which he described as sexual assault by instrumentation under color of law (Cal. Penal Code § 289) and as evidence fabrication intended to retroactively justify an unlawful arrest.

Once it was determined that Douglas had no drugs in his system, he was released from custody.

Douglas is an Army veteran with an impeccable record, starting kick returner in the 2001 BCS National Championship for Florida State University, dual-sport NCAA athlete in football and track with sub-4.2 speed, holder of multiple black belts, former Golden Gloves boxer, former law enforcement officer, and college graduate with multiple degrees, including a Bachelor of Science from Florida State.