After receiving threats of federal-court intervention, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is now expected to approve a $400,000 settlement stemming from a Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station traffic stop three years ago that turned violent.
The recommendation on the agenda for the county supervisors’ meeting Tuesday is for the board to sign off on the agreement made in August 2023, after a number of frustrated pleadings from the plaintiff’s attorney.
“It has now been 11 months since the settlement agreement was fully executed and delivered, and we cannot even get a straight answer from you as to where in the process the settlement is,” Thomas Ferlauto, the Laguna Hills-based attorney representing former Valencia High basketball player Josh Assiff, wrote in July.
In an agreement reached in court last month, the plaintiff’s counsel agreed not to seek further action if the settlement is formally agreed to and paid out by the end of the year.
The county cited changes to its process for handling liability claims as part of the delay, but the process frequently takes months and even years, according to those familiar with it, speaking on background.
Assiff’s attorney claimed in a lawsuit filed August 2022 that his client was a 21-year-old Antelope Valley College basketball player driving to practice at 7:50 a.m. Sept. 24, 2021, when he was pulled over for being Black in a white neighborhood, then “tasered, choked, pepper sprayed, beat and arrested,” per the complaint.
The location of the SCV traffic stop was not listed on the county’s Corrective Action Plan, and neither the Sheriff’s Department nor Ferlauto immediately responded to a request for comment Monday.
A summary of the incident from the Sheriff’s Department states Assiff broke multiple traffic laws and then became combative with the traffic sergeant who pulled him over and “could smell a strong odor of burnt marijuana emitting from his vehicle.”
The plaintiff then reached for his cellphone, according to the report, which is when the incident escalated, according to the county’s Corrective Action Plan.
“Sergeant One immediately opened the plaintiff’s driver side door to prevent him from driving away and putting the public at risk,” the report states. “While ordering the plaintiff to exit his vehicle, he took hold of the plaintiff’s left wrist and a fight ensued.”
As the struggle continued, the sergeant let loose a “two-second burst of his department-issued Oleoresin Capsicum,” which is also known as pepper spray.
The LASD version of events in the county’s motion to approve the settlement states the suspect continued to fight with two additional deputies who responded, leading the sergeant to ask one of the other deputies to tase Assiff to help subdue him.
Assiff’s attorney’s claimed his client suffered economic damages, great bodily injury and severe emotional distress as a result of his “unnecessary battery and arrest.”
Assiff was arrested on suspicion of resisting a peace officer and battery on a peace officer. Deputies also reported finding a marijuana pipe.
The LASD report ultimately found four root causes of the incident by the department and one by the plaintiff.
“A non-department root cause in this incident was the plaintiff refused to comply with lawful orders from Sergeant One,” according to the report.
The four “department root causes” were cited as: the sergeant’s effort to detain the plaintiff over an unlicensed driver investigation; the sergeant engaging the plaintiff before additional personnel arrived; the sergeant failed to summon a supervisor at the defendant’s request; and the deputy who tased the suspect “saw it was missing a cartridge, which forced him to adapt and use drive stun mode.”
The LASD report also states station personnel “were briefed on the events known at the time based on the information provided by responding deputy sheriffs. Special emphasis was placed on officer safety, less lethal weapons, communication, tactical preparedness, and lessons learned to assist employees should they ever find themselves in a similar situation,” according to documents in the county’s agenda.
No charges were filed as a result of the incident, according to L.A. County Superior Court records available online.
