“The impact caused catastrophic injuries: multiple fractures to his shoulder, leg, and jaw; life-threatening internal bleeding and organ damage; facial trauma; and permanent injuries requiring surgeries and a future knee replacement,” attorney Ben Crump said. “Despite his critical condition, officers allegedly slammed K.W. to the ground, handcuffed him, did not deliver first aid, and chained him to his hospital bed while denying his mother access to him.”
A California family has filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department, alleging that the 16-year-old plaintiff sustained “catastrophic injuries” after an officer intentionally rammed the child’s motorcycle.
According to CBS News, the lawsuit was filed on the family’s behalf by well-known civil rights attorney Ben Crump. In court documents, Crump’s team alleges that the 16-year-old victim, identified only by the initials “K.W.,” was riding a Honda Grom motorcycle near Grand Avenue and Washington Boulevard on February 25 when “LAPD officers deliberately rammed his bike with their patrol vehicle.”
The lawsuit alleges that, in the moments leading up the collision, the Los Angeles Police Department cruiser had neither activated its lights nor its sirens.
Furthermore, the family says that K.W. was never issued a command, verbal or otherwise, to pull over.
“The impact caused catastrophic injuries: multiple fractures to his shoulder, leg, and jaw; life-threatening internal bleeding and organ damage; facial trauma; and permanent injuries requiring surgeries and a future knee replacement,” Crump’s office wrote in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “Despite his critical condition, officers allegedly slammed K.W. to the ground, handcuffed him, did not deliver first aid, and chained him to his hospital bed while denying his mother access to him.”
K.W.’s mother, Shalayla Thomas, said she felt legal action was necessary.
“Because the internal bleeding was so bad, that they gave me an option [sic],” Thomas said during a Monday news conference. “And [so] I just called a lawyer.”
Quincy, a friend of K.W. who was present at the scene of the accident, described the crash and its immediate aftermath as “intense.”
“When I heard [the sound of the collision], kind of off the side of my helmet, and my face […] it was, like, really traumatizing,” Quincy said.
Crump said that he has asked the Los Angeles Police Department to release body-camera footage of the incident immediately and without delay.
“They did want to sweep it under the rug,” Crump said. “But thanks to this mother and the community activists standing with her, they say, ‘LAPD, you will not sweep this under the rug.'”
K.W.’s family members said that the 16-year-old had dreamed of being a pilot and was a member of the “Fly Compton Foundation,” a non-profit that provides aviation education, mentorship, and hands-on experience to underserved youth. However, K.W.’s loved ones now believe that the severity of the boy’s injuries mean that his dreams may no longer be attainable.
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