The 80-year-old owner of a Van Nuys car wash has filed a civil rights lawsuit against several federal agencies alleging they caused him to suffer severe injuries during an immigration raid on his business last year.
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Rafie Shouhed is seeking $50 million in damages from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the suit filed Thursday, May 21 in Los Angeles federal court.
Shouhed also contends he was arrested and incarcerated for 12 hours inside a federal lockup in downtown Los Angeles without medical attention.
“Civil rights protections exist to restrain government power before someone is thrown to the ground, injured and forgotten in a holding cell,” V. James DeSimone, Shouhed’s attorney, said in a statement. “Mr. Shouhed was not running, resisting or threatening anyone. They tackled a then-79-year-old man, body-slammed him to the ground, crushed him under the weight of three agents, put a knee on his neck and ignored him as he cried out that he could not breathe.”
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shouhed, a United States citizen who immigrated from Tehran decades ago, was inside Valley Car Wash on Van Nuys Boulevard on Sept. 9 when masked agents stormed the premises in the late morning hours, the lawsuit alleges.
DeSimone contends surveillance video shows an agent, without warning, knocking Shouhed to the ground inside a hallway as he tried to find out what was going on.
Shouhed says he stepped outside to speak with the agents, and offered to provide proof that his employees were legally authorized to work. Instead, he alleges, agents cursed at him, shoved him and body-slammed him onto the pavement.
Three agents then jumped on his back, with one forcing his knee onto Shouhed’s neck as others wrenched his arms behind him, the suit alleges, while an agent armed with an automatic weapon stood guard.
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Shouhed contends that from under the dogpile, he cried out that he had recently undergone heart surgery, had three stents in his chest, that he could not breathe, and that he needed an ambulance, according to the complaint.
The plaintiff’s attorney alleges agents ignored Shouhed’s pleas, handcuffed him, and took him to the Metropolitan Detention Center. Even after agents admitted they knew he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1980, he was kept in custody for 12 hours, and was denied medical treatment and phone calls to his family, according to the lawsuit.
“They were bringing in people with trucks, innocent little girls with handcuffs and shackles on their feet,” Shouhed alleged during a September press conference.
He said he saw mattresses on the bathroom floor for people to sleep on, and he was only given one bottle of water during his stay in the sweltering garage where detainees were being held.
When he was finally released, without charges, he claims, his son rushed him to a hospital. Doctors treated him for post-concussive symptoms of a traumatic brain injury, multiple bruised ribs, serious injuries to his elbows and contusions, Shouhed says, adding that he continues to suffer physical pain, psychological trauma and the effects of a traumatic brain injury.
The lawsuit alleges assault, battery, violation of the California Civil Code, deliberate indifference to a serious medical condition in violation of the 14th Amendment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and more. The suit also asserts that DHS, ICE and CBP maintain policies and practices that tolerate and condone the use of excessive force.
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