Black Army Veteran Awarded $6.8 Million After LAPD Retaliated Against Him for Calling 911 on Them When They Refused to Leave His Home During Welfare Check
Slade Douglas, a Black U.S. Army veteran, was on the phone with the Veterans Administration complaining about being racially discriminated against when the woman he was speaking to repeatedly interrupted him, telling him he was imagining things. Douglas hung up the phone in frustration – but that resulted in Los Angeles police officers showing up to his home for a “welfare check,” handcuffing him against his will to transport him to the hospital, where he was drugged and catheterized under false pretenses. Slade Douglas was awarded $6.8 million in damages after LAPD cops entered his home for a welfare check, then refused to leave, forcing him against his will to a hospital where he was drugged and catheterized. (Photo: body camera) Los Angeles police officers Jeremy R. Wheeler and Jeffrey H. Yabana were retaliating against him after he had ordered him out of his home, then called 911 when they refused to leave, according to the lawsuit he filed. Last month, a jury awarded Douglas $6.8 million in damages, ending a seven-year saga. “I think the verdict is loud and it's clear, and the public is just tired of municipalities, especially law enforcement, abusing their power as opposed to acting in a lawful, ethical manner to ensure all our rights are protected,” Douglas said in a YouTube interview with Roland Martin Unfiltered. Joining him for the interview was one of his attorneys, Lauren McRae, who said one of the cops had a history of alcoholism and mental illness, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. ‘He Was Very Convincing’: Over 600 Mostly Black Women Sterilized and Cut Open for No Reason, Lawsuit Claims — Now Virginia Hospital Faces $6B Lawsuit “That was one thing I know the jury was definitely appalled about to find out that the city knew that the officer had these issues and failed to act in accordance with the law and make sure that the officers were fit for duty,” she said. “Justice was served with this verdict. And it sends a message to the city of L.A. and the LAPD officers that you cannot come into a man’s home and violate his rights with impunity,” McRae added. Watch the video below. ‘Plaintiff Posed No Threat’ The incident took place on Aug. 27, 2019, after Douglas hung up the phone with the hotline operator at the Veterans Administration to report what he described as a “systemic discrimination complaint.” “It was a very racist encounter,” Douglas said in the YouTube interview. “She asked me was I suicidal and I indicated to her no, it was racist to ask a Black man if he’s suicidal because he is complaining about discrimination,” he continued. “At that juncture, she indicated that all Black veterans think they are being discriminated against. At that time, I disconnected the call. Subsequently, she called back and continued her tirade and indicated to me that nobody was discriminating against me,” Douglas explained. “I disconnected the call and indicated to her that I would be filing a complaint on her. Approximately 40 minutes later, the LAPD officers showed up at my location.” When the cops knocked on his door, Douglas welcomed them inside his home, believing they had good intentions. But the cops began searching his home without his consent, so he ordered them to leave his home seven times, but they refused. Douglas then called 911, which led to one of the cops snatching the phone from his hands and handcuffing him. “The worst thing you can do is make a 911 call right in front of us,” one of the cops told him, according to body camera footage. “Actually, what you did was against the law.” “It’s not against the law,” Douglas corrected the cops, but that just angered them more, prompting them to handcuff him to a gurney and transport him to a hospital. The cops can be heard on video scheming to transport him to the hospital to tell the doctors he was complaining about a back injury. “That way it takes the liability off you guys, takes it off the city, that’ll be the best thing to do,” said a cop who evidently was a supervisor. “Sounds good to me,” responded one of the cops. But the cops and city were held liable to the tune of $6.8 million. According to the claim: “Plaintiff posed no threat to the officers at any time. There was no basis or probable cause to arrest him, and no basis for arresting him in this manner. The officers did so based on Mr. Douglas’ lawful request that the officers leave his home, and his attempts to inform the police about their actions.” It was not the first time the LAPD fabricated charges against an innocent Black man for daring to report them to their superiors, as was the case of a Black man spending five days in jail after complaining about a speeding cop who nearly struck him. ‘They Did Not Have Good Intentions’ Once at the hospital, the cops ordered medical staff to go along with their cover-up by trying to find drugs in his system, but he had none. Mr. Douglas overheard the police officers saying words to the effect that they needed to "find something" in his system to justify the arrest with medical personnel present. Following conversations with the officers, medical staff stated they could “give him something” that would enable them to extract samples from Plaintiff without consent. Police officers restrained Plaintiff while nurses injected him with what appear to have been sedatives, including Ativan, Haldol, and Benadryl, rendering him semi-unconscious, despite Mr. Douglas refusing consent to this, and without telling Plaintiff what they were injecting him with. Mr. Douglas did not behave violently or in any way that would cause a reasonable person to believe restraining Mr. Douglas and subjecting him to forced medical procedures was appropriate. As part of these forced medical procedures, a catheter was inserted into Plaintiff’s penis to perform tests on him. Plaintiff developed a wound inside his penis shortly thereafter. Mr. Douglas was restrained and subjected to forced medical procedures, including injecting him against his will with sedatives and forcibly collecting specimens for a toxicology screen. “After they located nothing in my system, I was released, but I was confined for approximately seven hours,” he said during the YouTube interview. “It was a betrayal by the country and the people that entrusted to actually protect our rights.” McRae, his attorney, described the case as retaliation from police for his ordering them out of his home. “He was in his own home, exercising his right to call 911, and instead of allowing him to do that, or just simply leave his home as he requested over and over, they decided to retaliate against him,” she said. Douglas said in hindsight, he would not have allowed them into his home, but he believed they were acting in good faith. “A lot of people have asked me this question, ‘why did I allow them to enter,’ and I’ve also asked myself that question,” he said. “I was under the impression they had good intentions, but when they entered, I realized they did not have good intentions.”
