Bodycam footage shows cops forcefully arresting a Black family at a Starbucks car park. A jury awarded them $8.25 million in damages.
Alameda County Sheriff's Office
- A Black mother and her two daughters were detained at a Starbucks car park in California in 2019.
- Bodycam footage shows the family was handcuffed after the mother refused to show her ID.
- A California jury awarded the family more than $8 million on Wednesday, court documents show.
Bodycam footage has revealed the moment a Black family was unlawfully arrested at a California Starbucks parking lot while taking a break on their way to a college math test.
A jury granted Aasylei Loggervale and her two teenage daughters $8.25 million in compensation Wednesday for the event that took place in September 2019, court documents show.
It comes after the family claimed they were being targeted for their race when they were approached by Alameda County sheriff's deputies in the car park of a Starbucks in Castro Valley, California, a complaint says.
The family was driving overnight from Las Vegas to California's Berkeley City College in time for Loggervale's older daughter to take a statistics exam and had stopped in front of the Starbucks to rest, grab a coffee, and go to the toilet.
But shortly after arriving, they were approached by two Alameda County deputies, Steven Holland, and Monica Pope, who told them they were searching for suspects in a series of car thefts and asked for their identification, the complaint says. Pope and Holland are both white.
Bodycam footage of the incident, which spans 20 minutes, shows Loggervale refusing to give her identification, asking the officer: "What kind of crime did I commit?"
"Loggervale did not want to engage further with Defendants because, as a Black person, she feared that the encounter could result in serious physical harm or death to her and/or her daughter," the complaint said.
After an altercation, Holland ordered all three family members out of the car and detained them, the video shows.
The police officers, who did not state a reason as to why they were arresting them, handcuffed the family and "forcefully" put them in a patrol car, the lawsuit states.
After being held for several minutes, the family was released without being cited or charged. All three had abrasions to their wrists and arms and suffered "emotional distress, fear (and) embarrassment," the lawsuit said.
The jury ruled that the officer's conduct was "unlawful" and that Holland and Alameda County together must pay $2.75 million to the mother and $2 million to each daughter, while Pope and the county must pay $750,000 to each daughter, according to the final order.
Craig Peters, one of the attorneys representing the Loggervales, told The Washington Post that Alameda County Sheriff's Office did not discipline the officers involved in the incident and that Holland was later promoted to captain.
"They're a rather private family," Peters told The Washington Post about the Loggervales. "But they felt that what had happened was really wrong, and so they were willing to file the lawsuit and try to hold the sheriff's office accountable."
The Alameda County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to Insider's for comment.
"The community's trust in my agency is foundational to my mission of maintaining a positive relationship with those we serve," Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez told CBS News in a statement.
"The facts of this case are extremely important to me and our community members, however, I must reserve my comments until the case has been fully adjudicated through the court system."
Correction note: March 16, 2023 — An earlier version of this story stated the incident happened at a Starbucks. It happened in a Starbucks car park, not in the actual shop.
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Friday, March 17, 2023
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