The city of Los Angeles has denied liability in a lawsuit by four LAPD officers who allege they were subjected to embarrassing hazing by fellow members of the LAPD’s internal football team that included being asked to step naked into frozen water.
The plaintiffs are identified only as Does 1-4 in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit and they allege that the LAPD top brass did not do enough to stop the alleged hazing practice.
On Monday, the City Attorney’s Office filed separate sets of court papers with Judge Gregory Keosian citing multiple defenses to the lawsuit while also bringing a cross-complaint against the Centurion Corp. seeking an apportionment of liability if the city is found responsible for any damages any of the officers may be awarded.
The Centurion Corp., named after the football team, is a co-defendant with the city.
“The actions of the alleged assailants were not made within the course and scope of their duties as employees of the city of Los Angeles, were not known to the city of Los Angeles and were not ratified by the city of Los Angeles,” lawyers for the City Attorney’s Office state in a five-page answer to the lawsuit.
The City Attorney’s Office also contends that the claims are barred by the statute of limitations and that any injuries suffered by the plaintiffs who may have actually been on duty should be handled in the worker’s compensation arena. A case management conference is scheduled May 21.
The officers’ suit was filed Dec. 27 and alleges sexual battery and harassment, failure to prevent harassment, retaliation, negligence, negligent hiring and supervision and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
“Plaintiffs bring this case with the hope that justice will be achieved for the scores of victims who have been subjected to this ritualized hazing and abuse,” the suit states.
Despite the LAPD management’s alleged knowledge of the Centurions’ “proclivity to engage in most abhorrent forms of hazing and abuse” and despite the deep impact it has had on the lives of rookie officers, no one has ever been disciplined for their actions, the suit alleges.
Since 1979, LAPD officers have participated in full-contact football through the Centurions, a charitable arm of the LAPD established to promote a positive image of the department, the suit states. Officers on the team get preferential schedules and enhanced promotional opportunities within the LAPD and that is a primary recruiting pitch to join, the suit further states.
However, for decades the Centurions have subjected rookies to physical, emotional and sexual abuse that is “virtually indistinguishable from the gang initiations perpetrated by the criminal organizations the LAPD is tasked with investigating” as the new officers face “unfathomable pressure not to report the abuse they experienced,” the suit alleges.
Rookies are told that criticizing the Centurions is tantamount to committing career suicide and could jeopardize their safety, the suit states.
Doe 1 attended the Centurions’ all-weekend training camp at Salesian High School in February 2009 and after practice he and other rookies were told to go to the locker room, according to the suit, which further states that the rookie was told to strip naked, then step into a trash barrel filled with ice water in the shower area.
The observing officers made fun of the condition of Doe 1’s private parts from being submerged in the freezing water, the suit states.
Later, veteran Centurion officers told Doe 1 not to do or say anything about what happened to the plaintiff and said, “You’re one of us now,” according to the suit.
“The ability of the Centurions to pressure Doe 1 into even stepping inside the locker room was because of the power dynamic between the Centurions as high-ranking members of the LAPD and Doe 1’s status as a rookie probationary officer,” the suit states. “With his dream career in the balance, Doe faced immeasurable pressure to join the Centurions and ultimately become a victim of their horrific hazing rituals. The abuse only occurred because of the intertwined relationship between the Centurions and the LAPD.”
Doe 1 was told the late LAPD Officer Ricardo Lizarraga, who was shot and killed in 2004 while investigating a domestic disturbance in Leimert Park, was a Centurions member, according to the suit.
“Lizarraga was one of us, we took care of him, we take care of our own,” one Centurions officer told Doe 1, who “understood exactly what this meant,” the suit states.
After the alleged Hazing, Doe 1 “felt like he was in a gang that he could not leave without putting himself in danger,” the suit states.
Doe 1 was injured several months later and he never went back to the Centurions, but he maintained a stellar record while as an officer despite being diagnosed in October with post-traumatic stress disorder related to the alleged hazing, the suit states.
Doe 2, a former Marine, was also ordered to get into the frozen water and then stand naked atop a box, where he was told to sing the Marine Corps Hymn, the suit states.
“Completely demeaned and objectified, Doe 2 felt as if he was a piece of property being auctioned off,” the suit states.