LOS ANGELES (AP) — A lawyer says a lawsuit is being filed against the embattled Fullerton, Calif., Police Department by a man who was accused of attacking an officer but was later acquitted.
Attorney Garo Mardirossian says client Veth Mam's suit being filed Friday in federal court claims officers engaged in a cover-up conspiracy and violated his civil rights.
Mam was arrested in October for allegedly jumping on an officer's back and choking him. A jury acquitted him last month after seeing video in which the camera is knocked from his hands and he is wrestled to the ground by another officer.
The department recently said the arrest may have been a mistake. The lawsuit comes amid an uproar over the death of a mentally ill homeless man after a confrontation with Fullerton officers.