A German immigrant has filed a lawsuit against the LAPD and its officers, claiming that he was falsely arrested and that the arrest has damaged his reputation as a businessman and ruined his chances of becoming a U.S. citizen.
Plaintiff Sascha B. Koch filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against the city of Los Angeles and several LA police officers, accusing them of unlawful search and seizure, municipal liability for unconstitutional custom or policy, violations of the Bane Act, false arrest or imprisonment, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Koch alleges that on Nov. 18, 2021, LAPD officers allegedly entered his Los Angeles business without a warrant and detained him and other visitors on the premises at gunpoint. While the officers were on the premises, they allegedly unlawfully searched it and took his personal property, according to Koch. He adds that he was interrogated before being ultimately arrested. Koch states that the officers had no legal basis to enter the premises to search and arrest him.
According to Koch, his business is located in a strip mall and is clearly labeled Unit 6. The officers allegedly only had a warrant to search Unit 7, which is not the unit where he and his colleagues were located. Despite this, the officers allegedly chose to enter and search Unit 6 without legal permission and only sought a legal warrant to include Unit 6 hours after they had already allegedly violated his constitutional rights. But in filing for a warrant for Unit 6, one of the officers allegedly omitted the fact that police had already been on the premises for hours and had already searched it, seized property, and detained Koch.
Koch states that the defendants continued to misrepresent the circumstances of the incident to justify their allegedly illegal conduct, and in a preliminary hearing, the court ultimately determined that the LAPD had violated the Fourth Amendment and that they could not pursue criminal action against Koch.
The lawsuit states that Koch, a lawful immigrant from Germany, has no criminal history and has never been to jail. As a result of the defendants' actions, he was forced to spend more than 100 hours in a L.A. County jail in fear for his safety, where he was denied medical attention while he was in custody. The lawsuit adds that his arrest has damaged his reputation as a successful businessman and destroyed his business ventures.
The lawsuit asserts the arrest also has impacted Koch's chance to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, as he was turned away from his naturalization ceremony the day he arrived to be sworn in as a U.S. citizen because of his allegedly unjust arrest and the unsubstantiated criminal charges brought against him by the defendants.
Koch is demanding a jury trial to seek damages plus court costs, attorneys fees, and any other relief the court deems proper.
He is represented in this case by attorneys Indira J. Cameron-Banks and Terrance M. Jones of Cameron Jones LLP, of Beverly Hills.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California case number 2:13-CV-07714