Couple suing beleaguered Antioch PD after violent arrest
ANTIOCH, Calif. - A young couple is suing the Antioch Police Department, claiming they were victims of excessive force and racial profiling during a violent arrest last year.
The lawsuit comes as the department is caught up in a wide-ranging racist texting scandal along with a widening probe by the FBI around possible civil rights abuses and other crimes.
Cell phone video shows the dramatic February 2022 confrontation between the Antioch officers and Juan Laspada and his fiancée Rebecca Rodriguez.
Several officers are seen struggling with Laspada on the ground, landing several blows as they struggle to put him in handcuffs.
"I had a concussion and stitches in my ear," Laspada said in an interview with KTVU, describing the injuries he sustained in the episode.
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Lawsuit seeks federal oversight of Antioch police alleging racism and bigotry
In a federal lawsuit eerily similar to one filed 20 years ago in Oakland, civil rights attorney John Burris says the police department in Antioch – 35 miles away – is rife with bigotry, racism, lies and unconstitutional force.
The couple said they were victims of racial profiling and excessive force and were minding their own business while waiting for an UBER when officers approached them.
"He insisted and kept harassing me and pushing my buttons and try to get me to talk to him," Laspada said of one of the officers who has not been identified. "I had made a comment and told him you look like you’re on steroids and I went to go walk away and when I went to go walk away he grabbed me and slammed me on the ground."
Rodrigues added that she was "just begging them to stop what they were doing, and I tried protecting Juan’s face."
Police took Laspada to the hospital where he says he was released. He said he never heard again from police and no charges were ever filed.
The couple filed a federal civil rights lawsuit last week.
"There’s some kind of culture of misconduct that’s taking place, and this is just an example of a whole that were seeing regarding Antioch right now," the couple’s attorney, Stanley Goff, said.
KTVU reached out to the Antioch city attorney’s office and the police department for comment and to get more clarity on why Laspada was arrested. The police department declined to comment. The city attorney’s office just never got back to us.
The couple and their attorney are trying to identify the officers in the video to see if they’re part of the group currently under investigation.
Evan Sernoffsky is an investigative reporter for KTVU. Email Evan at evan.sernoffsky@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @EvanSernoffsky