A California woman filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Los Angeles County and several unnamed sheriff’s deputies, claiming they used excessive force when arresting her during a 2022 traffic stop.
The complaint comes after a newly released video shows the officers roughing her up while she had her then-3-week-old baby in her arms.
Her son is named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit obtained by Atlanta Black Star.
Lawyers filed the lawsuit on behalf of Yeayo Russell and her child listed only as D.F. on July 24, days after Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna condemned one of his former deputies for punching a woman in her face multiple times as she held her infant child in her arms.
The public lambasting came after footage of the incident was released by the sheriff’s department on July 14, a year after the incident happened.
Attorney Jamon Hicks addressed a central allegation in the lawsuit, saying the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department “has had a practice and a custom of using excessive force against Antelope Valley residents, specifically using force against Black women,” CNN reports.
The incident happened in the city of Palmdale when deputies pulled over a car driving at night without headlights on July 13, 2022. The officers’ bodycam recorded that incident that began around midnight.
Luna reported that the deputies detected an odor of alcohol during the stop. The vehicle was carrying a total of four females and three infants, including Russell and her child, all as passengers. T
he male driver was found to have a suspended license and was arrested on DUI and felony child endangerment charges. Deputies had discovered three women in the vehicle were holding the babies in their arms instead of using car seats, and they also were arrested on felony child endangerment charges. One of those women was Russell.
According to lawyers, Russell was breastfeeding her baby moments before the deputies stopped the car and subsequently arrested her.
The lawsuit says the deputies even tugged on her baby’s leg before taking the child away and detaining Russell, who was thrown into jail.
“This case is about more than just punches. It is about the way the deputies treated this mother,” Hicks said.
In her complaint, she claims that she was compelled to get rid of her breast milk before spending four days in jail. Once locked up, Russell says she had “no idea where her child was or if it was OK.”
The civil suit does not specify a specific monetary amount for damages sought. Instead, it alleges that the deputies involved in the arrest violated the Fourth Amendment’s safeguards against unreasonable search and seizure. It also points at the city alleging, “Municipal Liability – Unconstitutional Custom, Practice or Policy and Municipal Liability – Failure to Properly Train.”
“I don’t think there’s any question there’s a problem between Los Angeles County and Antelope Valley residents,” Hicks said according to the Los Angeles Times, stating that it took a year before the bodycam video to be released “shows the mentality of the county sheriffs in that area.”
