The family of a woman who died in police custody two months ago is calling on the U.S. Justice Department to investigate her case, along with other instances of what the family’s attorney calls a pattern of misconduct by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Alesia Thomas died in police custody July 22nd, after being placed in hobble restraint device and put into the back of a patrol vehicle.
Police refuse to release the dashcam video that would show exactly what happened to Thomas that morning. And according to police spokesman Sgt. Frank Preciado, in comments to theGrio, there is no arrest report because Thomas died in custody before officers could reach the police station.
According to a statement released by the department, the LAPD’s Force Investigation Division (FID) detectives are investigating Thomas’ death. Preciado told theGrio the case would be “investigated very diligently.”
“Every step is being looked at: what they said, what they did, what they didn’t do and what they didn’t provide,” Preciado said. “If officers are deemed to be out of policy it will be dealt with.” And Preciado said that potential disciplinary action, if the officers were to be found in violation of department rules, would range “from suspension, to release from service or even criminal action.”
With the help of the Trayvon Martin’s lawyer, Benjamin Crump, the family is suing the LAPD and requesting an external independent investigation into alleged police brutality by the United States Department of Justice.
In a letter from the Crump to Attorney General Eric Holder, Crump wrote, “We believe the LAPD’s internal investigation into the Thomas matter is a disingenuous attempt at an impartial campaign…”
Incident began with children left at station
According to police, on the morning of July 22nd officers returned to their station to investigate reports of two children, aged 3 1/2 and 12, who had been dropped off at a Los Angeles police station by Thomas, who appears to have been taking advantage of the city’s “safe haven” law, which allows struggling parents to surrender their children at certain locations, including police and fire stations, or hospitals. After the children were dropped off, police officers went to Thomas’ apartment, intending to arrest her on charges of child abandonment.
According to the news release from the Los Angeles Police Department, as they were taking Thomas into custody, she resisted arrest and tried to “pull away” from officers. The officers performed a “leg sweep,” took Thomas to the ground and handcuffed her hands behind her back.
When Thomas continued to resist, the report says the officers called for back-up and placed Thomas into so-called “hobble restraints.” Within minutes of being placed in restraints, Thomas was unresponsive and didn’t seem to be breathing. Officers took her to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. According to the letter Crump and his co-counsel sent to the Justice Department, “one officer kicked [Thomas] in the groin, and according to a statement released by department officials, officers used ‘questionable tactics’ against her while she was restrained and made inappropriate verbal comments.”
“Ms. Thomas ultimately died from the officers’ use of ‘questionable tactics,'” the letter continued, noting that five police officers have been suspending pending an internal investigation of the death.
Thomas’ mother, Sandra, who lives in Temple City, about 30 minutes from the Los Angeles apartment where her daughter lived, insists Alesia never abandoned her children, saying Alesia Thomas gave the older child a note with her name and telephone number on it, with instructions to give the note to an officer so they could contact her and have her pick up her grandchildren.
“When her son came into the police department he handed the note to the desk officer,” Sandra Thomas said. “I called and I asked him did my grandson hand you a note, and he said ‘yes,’ and I asked what did he do with the note, and that officer told me he gave the note back to my grandson.” Thomas did not recall the officer’s name.
Thomas said her daughter had been suffering from depression since the death of her father in 2006, and that she “needed some rest.” She said her daughter, who was 35 years old, took care to make sure the children were safe at the station.
“She made sure they were inside, then she handed [her son] this note with grandma’s number, so she can pick you guys up, and then she went home. The police officers went to her place with the wrong approach, to arrest her for child abandonment. And they took the wrong approach to find out why did she felt she needed to do that,” Thomas said, referring to her daughter leaving her children at the station.
Crump told theGrio the incident raises alarms about whether people can safely use the city’s resources for families in crisis. He said people who work for Los Angeles’ Department of Children and Families have been quoted in media articles “saying parents, continue to come to us if you need help. Don’t let the Alesia Thomas situation discourage you. The Department of Children’s Services has come out and said ‘we don’t arrest people for coming to us for help.'”
Thomas said her daughter had suffered from depression since her father’s death in 2006.
“You know how close a mother and daughter can bond? It was just a father and daughter close bond,” she said.
As to her daughter’s state of mind regarding her children, Thomas said, “she needed a rest.”
But Thomas added that she last spoke with her daughter the night before she died, and that her daughter never mentioned dropping off the children off at a police station, or having her take custody of them.
Crump calls the case the third in a series of troubling interactions between LAPD officers and police, including Ronald Weakley, a college student allegedly beaten by multiple officers for riding his skateboard the wrong way down a street in August, and Michelle Jordan, a 34-year-old nurse allegedly slammed on the ground following a routine traffic stop for using a cell phone while driving, after which officers allegedly exchanged congratulatory “fist bumps.”
“We believe the LAPD’s internal investigation into the Thomas matter is a disingenuous attempt at an impartial investigation,” the attorneys’ letter to the Justice Department continued. “Killing a mother of two, beating a college student for skate boarding on the wrong side of the road, and slamming a nurse to the ground twice for a cell phone violation, are inexcusable acts of violence and an abuse of power and authority.”
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