White et al. v Sacramento Police Department (Police Brutality)
Status: ACTIVE
On December 30, 2021, LCCRSF and co-counsel filed suit against the Sacramento Police Department and City of Sacramento on behalf of demonstrators brutalized by police during racial justice protests in 2020-21. Plaintiffs experienced extreme violence, persistent surveillance, and harassment by police even months after demonstrating for racial justice.
On January 23, 2025, this trial moved forward after a significant court ruling, where a federal judge largely denied the City’s motion for summary judgment, affirming that our clients’ claims deserve to be heard by a jury. The trial is set to begin on March 10, 2025 and was filed by LCCRSF, Disability Law United, and Siegel, Yee, Brunner & Mehta.
This lawsuit seeks to end the Sacramento’s discriminatory, violent tactics against people who protest police violence and white supremacy.
The Sacramento Police Department responded with outsized and unequal force against people protesting institutionalized racism and police violence while permitting organized white supremacist groups, who align with pro-police (including Blue Lives Matter) ideologies, to demonstrate unharmed. This disparate treatment is consistent with a years-long pattern and practice of discrimination from the City of Sacramento and its police.
A ABC 10 news segment reported on these disparities in treatment and highlighted the stories of the plaintiffs.
One plaintiff’s home was raided months after participating in a racial justice demonstration after George Floyd was murdered by law enforcement in May 2020. Sixty Sacramento police officers, including SWAT units in tactical gear, gang units, and investigators ransacked his home and questioned him on his political ideologies. He, his pregnant wife, and elderly parents were all handcuffed in zip ties for hours.
The Sacramento Police Department’s policies and practices are discriminatory, racist, and inhumane. They violate the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech, the Fourth Amendment’s proscription of excessive force, the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise of equal protection, and protections secured by the California Constitution and other state laws.
“The Court has found that the warfare waged by the Sacramento Police Department against racial justice protestors, including through its unfettered use of chemical weapons and kinetic impact munitions, must be scrutinized by a jury. We look forward to holding the City of Sacramento accountable at trial,” said Marissa Hatton, Senior Staff Attorney at Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Read the most recent press release here.