LOS ANGELES (AP) — A cop used unreasonable force when she allegedly
kicked a woman in the groin area while the woman was restrained and partially
inside the backseat of a cruiser, the Los Angeles Police Commission said in a
report.
Alesia Thomas, 35, was transported to hospital and
pronounced dead on July 22 — hours after officers tracked her to her South Los
Angeles home to arrest her on suspicion of child endangerment.
Thomas had abandoned her 3-year-old and 12-year-old children
at a police station at about 2 a.m. Police said she dropped off the children
because she was a drug addict who could not care for them. Officers at the
station learned the children expected their grandmother to pick them up.
An autopsy released in January found that Thomas had cocaine
in her system when she went into cardiac arrest, but it also said it was
unclear why Thomas died, because it was difficult to know how the struggle may
have contributed. Thomas also had a history of bipolar disorder, it said.
According to the report released Thursday, an officer
knocked the 228-pound Thomas to the ground by sweeping her legs out from under
her. Two other officers handcuffed her as they said she was resisting arrest,
and at multiple points Thomas was carried by officers as they tried to lead her
to a patrol car.
Thomas is described as initially "fidgety, wide eyed,
sweating" according to an officer and later "incoherent and kept
asking the officers to let her go and told them on several occasions to kill
her," the report states.
At one point Thomas requested an ambulance, but when
questioned by an officer as to why, asked for a glass of water. No ambulance
was called, the report states.
Officers trying to devise a way to get her into the patrol
car used a restraint device around her ankles. At one point audio captured her
saying "I can't breathe" but officers said they did not hear her,
according to the report.
Thomas who was sprawled across the cruiser's back seat with
her legs restrained was kicking the window. An officer used profanity toward
Thomas including threatening to kick her if she didn't' "knock it
off," the report states. In all, the officer used her feet "seven
times on three separate occasions to push or kick (Thomas) in the upper thigh,
groin and abdomen area," the report states.
The officer states she did this to move Thomas into the
patrol car.
Once Thomas was in the car, video from the cruiser shows her
"eyes roll back" and her body roll toward the driver's seat before
officers reported that she appeared unconscious. Thomas did not appear to be
breathing when she was removed from the back seat. She arrived at the hospital
in full cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead by a doctor there, the report
states.
The commission noted the "apparent indifference"
and comments made by the officer who allegedly kicked Thomas in the groin area.
The commission was unable to determine whether the officer actually kicked
Thomas or was just trying to use her foot to push Thomas into the car. But they
determined that the decision to use her foot or leg to move Thomas into the
cruiser was "ineffective and inappropriate."
The commission also found that three other officers used
appropriate force but that their actions may be deemed misconduct when two
officers did not request an ambulance when asked and another officer possibly
made false statements to investigators. A supervisor may not have exercised
proper control over the situation, according to the report.
The potential misconduct will be investigated by the
department. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is also investigating
the incident.
Meanwhile four of the officers are working administrative
assignments at other stations and one was allowed to return to the field after
her role was deemed minor, said Cmdr. Andrew Smith. The officers are not
identified in the report.
The department has not released the videotape of the
incident and denied a request for a copy from The Associated Press, citing the
ongoing investigation.
Attorney Steven Effres, who represents Thomas' daughter,
said he is still trying to obtain the video and other necessary materials to
"find out the truth and details about what happened that evening."