Sacramento pays $106,000 to Black teen detained by police twice in 18 months
The city of Sacramento has paid $223,000 to settle two cases in which teenagers were allegedly improperly detained by police, including $106,000 to a Black boy detained in two separate incidents.
The first incident occurred in June 2019, when three 13- and 14-year-olds, two Black and one Latino, were walking to McDonald’s on Mack Road in Sacramento’s Parkway neighborhood. Officers approached them and told them to “get the f--- on the ground,” the federal lawsuit stated.
The boys followed orders, knelt on the concrete with their arms above their head, and one officer held them at gunpoint, the lawsuit stated. Officers then split them up for questioning about a burglary that occurred 10 minutes earlier by Latino adults at a location that was 30 minutes walking distance, the lawsuit alleged. One boy was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
One of the officers in that incident, Sarabjit Virk, is still an officer with the city, said city spokesman Tim Swanson. The other officer, Linda Matthew, is no longer an officer with the city. Her last day was Aug. 9. 2023. She did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The city paid $175,000 to the boys in that incident, according to a March court document. That amount was split between them, said Kellie Walters, attorney for the teenagers.
“The city determined it was appropriate to work with the plaintiffs to reach an agreement that resolved the issues and satisfied the involved parties,” Swanson said in a statement.
About a year and a half after the incident outside the McDonald’s, in October 2020, one of the teenage boys was leaving the Delta Shores movie theater in Meadowview just before 10 p.m. Police officers Brandon Lundgren and Connor Lawrence were dispatched to the area for a loitering complaint.
When they arrived the officers can be heard on their body cameras calling the kids “ghetto” and “retarded,” according to an October 2021 disciplinary letter they received. After the kids did not follow police orders to leave, Lundgren told a 14-year-old Black boy “alright, first victim,” then handcuffed him and put him in the backseat of a patrol car.
“There is two hundred of you roaming around, being a pack of animals,” Lundgren can be heard saying to the boy on a body camera, according to the disciplinary letter. “It’s like a pack of wolves out there destroying the community ... you are not going to get away... I could tase you, I could bola wrap you, I could shoot you with a bean bag round. I could deploy a dog on you. I mean is this really how you are going to grow up and live your life, just f--- the police? ... Live a great life and show some respect. Because right now, you are the problem with our society. You are the problem with our country.”
Lundgren and Lawrence were ordered to attend additional training, according to the disciplinary letter, which the city posted to its web page in July. Both are still on the force, Swanson said.
The city paid $48,000 to settle that case, according to a March settlement agreement posted to a city web page last month.
The department has no policy prohibiting the handcuffing of minors, unlike Baltimore and San Jose. Last year, unidentified Sacramento officers handcuffed a Black 10-year-old girl as she sobbed. The city’s Office of Public Safety Accountability Director LaTesha Watson and Inspector General Dwight White showed the council the video in June during a discussion about police racial bias.
As punishment, Lawrence and Lundgren both had to attend a three-day training involving “resilience, compassion and leadership for law enforcement,” the letter stated. They also had to participate in a two-week assignment in the department’s Outreach and Engagement Division to complete a “community engagement project” involving south Sacramento youth.
Lundgren was one of two officers involved in a use of force causing great bodily injury to a Black female on Jan. 19 at Mack Road and Center Parkway, according to the department website. The department has not yet released documents detailing that incident.
Lundgren, who has been with the department since 2016, was paid $127,540 in total compensation last year. Lawrence, who has been with the department since 2017, made $113,582 in total compensation last year.
