Warren Christopher
CHAIR
John A. Arguelles
VICECl!AIR
MEMBERS
Roy A. Anderson
Willie R. Barnes
Prof. Leo F. Estrada
Mickey Kantor
Richard M. Mosk
INDEPENDENT COMMISSION
ON THE Los ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT
May
31st
1 9 9 1
John W. Spiegel
GENERAL COUNSEL
DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL
Percy Anderson
Richard E. Drooyan
Gary A. Feess
Raymond C. Fisher
Ernest J. Getto
Lawrence B. Gotlieb
Thomas E. Holliday
Andrea Sheridan Ordin
John Brooks Slaughter
Robert E. Tranquada, M.D.
Barbara J. Kelley
Louise A. LaMothe
Yolanda Orozco
Dennis M. Perluss
Gilbert T. Ray
EX£CU11VE DIRECTOR
Prof. Bryce Nelson
DIRECT'OR F'OR PRESS
INFO.RMATION Ms. Geri L. J am.ba
7143 Gateshead Way
West Hills, CA 91307
Dear Ms . J am.ba :
John B. Sherrell
Brian A. Sun
On behalf of Warren Christopher and the Independent
Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, I want to
thank you for your memorandum. Although we are not vested
with powers to consider individual cases, we found the
information set forth in your memorandum to be very helpful.
We will c e rtainly take t he information into consideration in
reaching our conclusions. We will also keep your materials in
our library for further review by our staff and the
Commissioners .
Very truly yours,
Gi~7:?" Executive Director
GTR
Suite 1910 400 South Hope Street Los Angeles, California 90071-2899 Telephone (213) 622-5205 Facsimile (213) 622-7318
. ,., - -_,, .....
FALSE ARREST
AND
POLICE BRUTALITY
Geri L. Jamba
7143 Gateshead Way
West Hills, CA 91307
(g1p J 5 r; o-ff rt7
To Whom It May Concern :
This is my story of False Arrest and Police ~rutality.
I am 58 years old, a wife, a mother of 4 grown children
and a grandmother of seven. I am a good, caring person who has
never had any previous trouble with the police. I am a taxpayer
and as such I have expected the police to protect me from criminals,
not treat me like one.
On the morning of December 12, 1989 my life was changed
totally by the brutal actions of Officer J. W. Hosford (15198) and
his associates. I was humiliated and degraded by what these
policeman did. I d i d not deserve being treated like a criminal
when I did nothing wrong. The following tells what happened on
that day.
I was expecting my daughter Vikki to come over to my house
after taking her children to school. The night before was a real
nightmare. Vikki was in the middle of a divorce, had problems with
her job and financial affairs as well as caring for her two children.
She was under the care of Dr. Cole who had been gi0ing her pills
to control anxiety attacks . On the night of December 11, 1989
Vikki was suffering from a very bad anxiety attack brought upon
because she had run out of the medication. She was so upset that
my hu sband and I went over to her house to help. I called Dr . Cole
to see if he could call in a prescription for some more pills.
Dr . Cole refused and said she was no longer his patient because
he found out tha~ her insurance plan did not cover his services.
I told him I would hold him personally responsible for her wellfare
unless he helped her at this time. He finally agreed to prescribe
10 pills. Since it was now in the middle of the night my husband
had to drive to Van Nuys and pick up the prescription at an open
all night Pharmacy. It was after 3:00 AM before Vikki was able to
take the medication and get to bed. We found out later that the
prescribed pills were only half the strength of the pills she had
previously been taking. So on the morning of December 12 Vikki
was coming over to my house to get some rest and try to see
another Doctor.
The following paragraph describes what happened on the way
over to my house in Vikki~s own words :
"At approximately 9 : 00AM I made a right turn in front of a
parked police car at the corner of Woodlake and Sherman Way . After
completing the turn I noticed the police car pull away from the
curb and follow me up Sherman Way. After a few moments I noticed
the police car had it ~ s lights on signaling me to pull over. At
the first available opportunity I did indeed pull over and wait for
the officer to approach me. The officer came to the car and stated
that the registration on it was way overdue . His manner upset me
because for some reason he appeared to be angry with me . Because
of his abrupt hard core manner I found myself becoming nervous and
questioning of his unnecessary abusiveness. I felt threatened by him
and asked if he could follow me up the hill to my moms just minutes
,
from where we were. He refused. I told him that I was on medication
and was going up to my moms house which was right up the street to
rest . He verbally attacked me by stat ing that I had no business
driving when taking medication. When I tried to explain that the
medication didn/t affect my driving ability and I was just going to
rest at my moms because l/d been under a l ot of strain recentl y,
he said he didn't care what my problems were it was none of his
concern and asked for my license. I promptly gave him my license
and in addition, even though he hadn / t requested it gave him proof
of insurance . He took the items back to hi s car which was parked
immediately behind mine. The officer was writing on something I
presumed a ticket, finished writing, and was just ~tan ding outside
the police car taking turns glancing at me and the traffic as it
passed by. After some time I leaned my head out the car window
and asked the officer what was taking so long- he heard me, looked
at me, but didn't answer. Approximately five minutes after I first
tried to get a response from him I tried again. He did the same
thing - now I was getting more nervous in fact I was becoming
scared of him due to his behavior . He continued to take turns
watching me and the traffic without responding to my questioning .
I was so unsure of him that I had locked the car door and each time
I spoke to him I rolled the window down and then up again. After
approximately 20 minutes delay a tow truck arrived and started
backing up into my car bo xing me between the police car and the tow
truck . I again rolled down my car window and asked the officer
what was going on and he told me to shut up! I felt panicked and
sure that this man was not what he was presenting himself as . In
a reflex like action I started the car and drove up the hill to my
mothers. All the time I was driving I honked my horn hoping that
someone would notice and be there so I wouldn't have to be alone with
this man . I drove in my moms driveway
door open, a nd rushed into her house.
policeman chasing me but he was acting
he was really an officer."
left my engine running,car
I told my mom there was a
crazy and I didn't know if
My daughter looked as white as a ghost. She locked the
front door and told me to call 911 or call the police and get some
help . I said if there was. a policeman out there I had to go out
and talk to whoever it was and tr y to find out what was going on.
I opened the door and went outside. Vikki was so upset and
scared that she locked the door behind me . A police car w as pulled
up to our driveway and Officer Hosford was running up the driveway
toward the front door . He yelled "Get out of the way, I'm going to
arrest her . " He l ooked like a wild man. The veins in his neck
stuck out and his hair was hanging down over hi s face. I tried to
explain that Vikki was not trying to get away; that she was having
stress problems and was under the care of a Doct or and was taking
medication . He said "Shut up" and was not interested in anything I
had to say and didn't care what her problems were . I asked him if he
could call Dr. Co le to verify her condition, but he repeatedly used
foul language and said he didn ' t have to listen to anything we had
to say .
Hearing how I was being verbally abused and treated, Vikki
opened the door and came out of the house and onto the porch to
protect me from this man. She said "Mom, don't get yourself upset,
he won't listen to either of us so we might as well let him do
what he has to do". Officer Hosford pushed me aside and grabbed
Vikki and yanked her off the porch. He told her to put her arms
behind her back. Vikki did exactly what he told her to do. Instead
of just handcuffing her hands, he grabbed her arms and crossed them
backwards high up on her back, then put on the handcuffs and threw
her face down on the hood of her car. I said "You don't have to treat
her like that, she isn't doing anything wrong". He again slammed
her into the hood of her car pulling her arms up while they were
handcuffed behind her back. Everytime I tried to reason with him ,
he would pound Vikki some more. It was like he was deliberately
hurting Vikki, trying to get me to do something to interfere with
his actions. It was hard staying calm but I knew I had to or else
this man would get more violent. Vikki began to yell "call 911, call
the police, call a neighbor". I started to go toward them pleading
for him not to hurt her and Officer Hosford yelled "Get back or
I'll arrest you too". I stopped and at no time was I nearer than
7 or 8 feet from them. Officer Hosford started to push Vikki over
to his police car. I asked him where he was going to take her and
again he told me to shut up and said he wasn't going to tell me
where he was taking her. I pleaded and begged him to tell me where
he was taking my daughter and he repeatedly used foul language and
said he didn ' t have to tell me anything. Vikki asked me to get a
witness and Officer Hosford slammed her against the hood of his car
and told me not to move. About this time we heard police sirens and
Vikki asked if she could wait for another policeman to come.
Officer Hosford again slammed her into the hood of his police car.
Vikki was so afraid of Officer Hosford that she said "I want to
wait for another policeman, I don ' t want to go in the car with you
alone". Officer Hosford again slammed Vikki into the hood of his
police car. My neighbor Steven Duval saw the extremely rough and
brutal action that was going on and came over to see if he could
help. He told Officer Hosford there was no need to use such force
when Vikki wasn ' t doing anything. Officer Hosford told Mr Duval
to shut up and get back.
After a short while, more policemen started arriving.
There were numerous police cars, a motorcycle officer and a heli­copter
converging on my house. Two of the policeman approached
Officer Hosford and asked "What have we here" in a joking manner.
Officer · Hosford had Vikki handcuffed near his police car and I was.
standing in the driveway still talking to my neighbor Steve Duval.
The two officers came up behind me and put handcuff~ on me without
any warning. Officer Hosford had told the other two officers
"Cuff her too" pointing at me. I was shocked by this action since
I had done absolutely nothing except try to find out where he was
taking my daughter and being concerned about how he was treating her.
The two officers put me in their police car and Vikki was
placed in their car shortly after. They would not allow me to get
my purse or even lock my house. As they drove away one of them
radiod that they were bringing in a "mental case". My daughter and
.....
I were dumbfounded by this when we realized that they were talking
about Vikki. What gives any policeman the right to make such a
statement or judgement? My daughter and I were totally shocked
at Officer Hosford's brutality, bad language and non caring attitude
I was equally shocked finding the same non caring attitude of the
other two officers. Both Vikki a n d I tried to talk to these
officers. We told them about Officer Hosford's brutality, use of
foul language, telling us to shut up and saying he did not have to
tell us anything or listen to anything we had to say . The response
from the officers was that Officer Hosford was right, that he did
not do anything wrong, that he did not have to listen to us or tell
us what was going on. They said it was normal policy not to li sten
to people because it just causes more probl ems. They also said
policeman have to be rougher with females because they are far more
dangerous than men. One of the officers said he thought the use
of shut up was a li ttle st r ong.
As a r esul t of this brutal attack, Vikki was covered with
black and blue bruises. She had complete arm lock bruises, bruises
on both hips where she had been slammed against the cars, bruises on
both legs and also bruises on her back from Officer Hosford's elbow
where he held her down while handc uffed. She also had pulled muscles.
The Doctor who e xamined Vikki said that her physical ailments proved
that she had received nothing less than abusive treatment .
Officer Hosford's report states "I leaned suspect #1 on the
hood of the parked vehecle, used leverage to cuff her." What Officer
Hosford actually did was slam my daughter against both her car and
his car many times with brutal force as verified by witnesses .
It is inconceivable that such a large officer was so out of
control that he had to use brute force on a girl that only weighed
105 pounds, was doing everything she was told to do and offered no
resistance . Instead of handling the situation in a professional
manner he was out of control and created undeserved consequences
for my daughter and myself. After me telling him that we had been
up most of the night before, that Vikki had a medical problem and
trying to explain her situation, it is unbelievable that a police
officer could act in such a manner.
Officer Ho s ford 's description of the events was not true.
His written statement indicated that I tried to take Vikki away
from him. He also told my husband and four other witnesses that
I tried to take his gun away from him and was i nterfering with the
arrest . Statemen t s like that were obviously made up to cover up
his own brutal actions . I want to emphasize that statements in
his report were false . It should not be necessary for a policeman
who is supposed to be upholding our laws , to lie and make up stories .
We were taken to the West Valley Police Station where we
were handcuffed to a bench f acin9 a wall for over 2 hours before
we were booked. On the wall of the station there were two large
computer printed banners wh i ch read "Will Rogers never met a Hype".
Why would any Police Station allow such si9ns to be displayed?
Requests to loosen my handcuffs were ignored . I had indentations
in my l eft wrist for several days after the arrest and my hand and
wrist were numb for over a month . Followin9 these events a growth
~ ... . . ~ - ' ....
developed on my hand that required surgery.
As a result of this event, Vikkis car was impounded. Officer
Hosford told Vikki's boyfriend that he had turned her drivers license
into the DMV and that there would be more surprises for her.
She was forced to go to the DMV Court to prove that she was
capable of driving. This required a Doctors visit and examination
to obtain a statement to satify the DMV. This cost $1500 in addition
to the impound fees.
As a result of the arrest, we had to appear in court on
January 3rd, January 17th, February 15th and February 28th. At
the February 28th appearance, our laywer J. Patrick Francis met
with the District Attorney's laywer and they agreed that Vikki
would be put on probation instead of going to jail and my charges
could be reduced to an infraction if we would plead no contest.
My laywer pointed out that testimony regarding actions of a mother
def ending her daughter would not be taken as truthful and the word
of the policeman would be given preference over mine. My lawyer
not only advised me to agree to the reduced charge, he told me
that persuing the case in a jury trial with expected subsequent
actions to clear the charges would probably cost between $45,000
to $60,000. He said that we could also end up in jail and this
scared us. Vikki had her stress problems and I had high blood
pressure, high levels of cholesterol(585), trigliceride(2500) and
was told by my Doctor that I was a strong candidate for a stroke
or heart ~ttack. Throughout this ordeal I was under unbearable
stress. The worry of my daughter's welfare and my own health was
at times more than I thought I could bear . I was worried about
paying for the le~al help. The suffering, pain and anguish that
we endured because of this officer has caused ongoing problems
for our whole family. My cholesteral and trigliceride levels
escalated to 1000 and 4000 respectively. My high blood pressure
condition worsened and I am still under a Doctor's care. Our
legal fees resulting from this terrible experience have amounted
to almost $11,000. We have had to use our retirement
savings, which cannot be replaced since my husband is almost 64
and will be retiring soon. I feel that we should be able to
recover the money that this false arrest has cost us .
I thought that with all the evidence we had, and the
witnesses that had seen the situation, that the judge would see
that I was innocent and there would be no need to have a trial.
Our lawyer did not tell us that the judge never heard our side of
the story and convinced us that if we agreed to the reduced charge
it would be no more serious than a traffic ticket. However, I feel
we were the victims of bad advice and feel very bad that we were
not given a chance to say a word in our defense.
All of these problems came about because Officer Hosford
falsely arrested me and unjustly precipitated the arrest of my
daughter. If this man had been a decent policeman carrying out
his duties to protect and serve, none of this would have happened.
I want my record cleared of this rediculous charge and my daughter
should not have a record for the rest of her life brought about
by the provoking, brutal actions of Officer Hosford. Knowing
",. ... - . r.._ .. .. . ' ...,,
'
full well how this policeman falsified his report on my daughter
and myself leads me to wonder how many other people have been
unjustly treated by such officers . I would like the record of
Officer Hosford (Badge # 1 5 1 98) to be e x amined a s I know others
hav e suffered from h is u nprofessional action s .
Geri L. Jamba