CIVIL RIGHTS

Her African-American client was attacked and viciously beaten by the LAPD officers, while celebrating a July 4^th gathering at a low-income housing project in South LA. Then he was falsely arrested and charged with resisting police as violent felonies, after the police fabricated a story that he was responsible for challenging the officers dispatched to shut down the party. They further claimed that the party-goers were throwing fireworks, rocks and bottles at police, all proven false at trial by witnesses who recounted a completely different story. According to witnesses, the client was taken down to the ground for no other reason than to question reason for police presence. Exposing the lies of the police in justifying their actions, the witnesses also related how the police came down aggressively by terrorizing innocent people not engaged in anything unlawful by pushing and shoving them, destroying tents and party supplies. Further, as a cover-up of their actions, the police failed to preserve video from the LAPD-owned cameras at the scene. Through aggressive litigation, Ms. Mkrtchyan had the criminal charges dismissed and filed a claim for violation of civil rights in federal court on behalf of her client. The federal jury returned a verdict for client, awarding him $90,000 for his injuries, and $60,000 in punitive damages against individual officers. (Adon Howard v. City of Los Angeles, et al. 2:14-cv-03687-SS) Her client’s rights were vindicated and justice prevailed.