The city of Long Beach, California, settled a lawsuit and is reportedly set to pay a prostate cancer patient hundreds of thousands after he alleged police officers struck him in the groin a day after he had surgery.
As a lawsuit filed last year explained, resident Johnny Jackson was returning home from a run to Staples, where he printed a copy of his doctor’s note for his job, when local officers confronted him, the Sacramento Bee reported. The incident happened in September 2022.
The Long Beach cops were in an unmarked vehicle and parked behind Jackson in his driveway after pulling him over because of his expired registration, according to the outlet.
Body camera video shows the moment the officers instructed Jackson to get out of his vehicle and put his hand on his head. The medical paperwork placed on top of the car began to flutter away when he started to comply with their orders.
“This is actually my paperwork for my surgery yesterday. I had surgery yesterday, be careful,” Jackson said while officers tried to restrain him. “Just let me move my paperwork. I just had surgery.”
“You’re doing a lot of talking and not a lot of listening. Stop,” one officer said. “Put your hands behind your back. If you resist, you will get hurt.”
“If you hurt me, I will sue you,” he responded. “Don’t threaten me.”
Two officers are seen standing on each side of him, holding his arms. The third officer directs him to walk in his direction.
“Don’t force me. I just had surgery,” Jackson said while one of the officers yelled at him to walk.
The officers immediately started to put Jackson’s hands behind his back, handcuffed him, and escorted him to their patrol vehicle. He repeatedly mentioned that he had cancer.
“What is your issue?” one of the officers asked. “Why can you not listen to anything we’re saying? Why do you think you’re running the show here? Why did we have to get to this point?”
The officer then asked Jackson why he continued driving until reaching his driveway, when noticing police trying to pull him over.
“My car had December tags on them. It’s June. That’s why I pulled in the driveway, sir,” Jackson said.
“Why are you forcing us to use force on you?” the officer asked.
Jackson explained to the officer that he felt that one of his colleagues unnecessarily threatened and was aggressive toward him even after he told them about the procedure.
“I want you to know you’re lucky you didn’t get Tased, I want you to know you’re lucky you didn’t get pepper sprayed or thrown to the ground,” the officer said. “Think about that next time.”
The filing claims that during the arrest, Jackson was “kneed…in his groin” several times and suffered complications after the incident, including blood in his urine and bruises due to the handcuffs, per the Sacramento Bee. The city council greenlit the $300,000 payout last week, on Jan. 16.
“The settlement is not an admission of liability, and the City Attorney’s Office believes that the settlement amount is reasonable and fair to both Mr. Jackson and the City,” Deputy City Attorney Howard Russell told the outlet.
