UCLA’s director of basketball administration was sued Tuesday by a campus parking attendant who alleges the hoops honcho rammed him with his car during an angry confrontation over parking restrictions during a crowded graduation day in 2015, causing a knee injury.
Gualberto Rabanales’ Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against Douglas Erickson and the University of California Board of Regents alleges battery, assault, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A UCLA representative could not be immediately reached for comment.
“(Erickson) hurled racial epithets and obscenities at Rabanales in an attempt to intimidate plaintiff and force him to allow him entry into the parking structure,” the suit alleges.
The lawsuit alleges Erickson tried to “falsify evidence” by asking a responding police officer to “punch him in the face” before a photograph was taken.
According to the complaint, the run-in occurred while Rabanales was working in parking structure 4, level P1 north, on June 13, 2015. He says he was wearing a yellow vest and directing traffic, which was heavy that day due to UCLA commencement ceremonies on campus.
Erickson was dropping off basketball equipment at Pauley Pavilion, according to the plaintiff’s court papers. Although the pattern of cones on the roadway indicated that vehicles needed to travel north, Erickson insisted on going south to be closer to the arena and became belligerent when Rabanales said he could not do so, the lawsuit says.
Erickson drove around the cone pattern and cut off several vehicles while intending to travel south, but Rabanales stepped in front of his car and said he could not go forward, according to the lawsuit.
“Then, Erickson revved his engine and accelerated towards Rabanales,” the suit alleges. “In fear of his life, Rabanales jumped out of the way of the vehicle. However, … Erickson swerved his vehicle to hit Rabanales, injuring Rabanales’ knee and causing multiple contusions to his body.”
Police later interviewed Rabanales, several witnesses and Erickson, according to the suit, which says an officer told Erickson that he wanted to take his photo.
“In an apparent attempt to falsify evidence and make a false claim against plaintiff Rabanales, Erickson asked the officer to punch him in the face a few times first,” the lawsuit alleges.
The officer declined and took photos of Erickson’s face as planned, according to the suit.
The complaint alleges Erickson has a reputation for “emotional and physical outbursts which endanger the safety of individuals that he teaches and/or supervises” and the regents should have known that information before they hired him.
It wasn’t immediately disclosed if any police action was taken in the incident.
–City News Service