62-Year-Old Korean Woman Is Suing The LAPD For Roughing Her Up When She Arrived At Church [Video]


A 62-year-old Korean immigrant from Los Angeles’ Koreatown, Ok Jin Jun, has filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department for roughing her up in a church parking lot, according to CBS. More specifically, she is suing the LAPD, the City of Los Angeles, and two LA police officers.

The incident allegedly occurred on April 14, when Jun was arriving at her Koreatown church early in the morning and was captured on a surveillance video which her lawyer, Antonio K. Kizzie, described as hard to watch.

“Seeing this occur, especially to a person so vulnerable like her, is very disturbing.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUXYhMQGxuM

The video shows Jun pulling into the parking lot, followed shortly by an LAPD SUV. Jun said that she was followed after honking at the officers several times for blocking the church’s driveway.

After she exits her car, the officers confront her, asking for her registration, and a discussion follows; Jun’s English is fairly minimal, and, as her son David explained, was confused by the confrontation.

“From that point my mom was confused. She didn’t feel like she did anything wrong.”

According to David, Jun tried calling 911 to get an interpreter involved, and also attempted to contact her husband – the video shows her crouching down to make a phone call when the argument becomes more heated; the officers clearly aren’t happy with her attempts to make a phone call.

The officers appear to pull Jun to her feet and shove her against her car, and it looks like she begins to struggle – at which point they force her down to the ground and handcuff her.

“They grabbed her by the wrists, twisted her into a submission position,” David said.

The officers then took Jun to the hospital before taking her into custody; before the incident ended, four more LAPD cruisers had arrived on the scene, presumably summoned by the original officers. Why they felt they needed four cruisers worth of backup to confront a 62-year-old woman remains unexplained.

LAPD presence in Koreatown is high; the area has a significant crime rate - albeit mostly non-violent.
LAPD presence in Koreatown is high; the area has a significant crime rate – albeit mostly non-violent. [Photo by David McNew/Getty Images]

While there has been no official response to the incident, a source within the LAPD indicated that both officers were being reviewed for a routine use-of-force report, and that “mental health” may have been a factor in their response; it’s unclear precisely what is meant by that.

As Korea Daily reports, both Jun’s lawyer and son feel that the violence used by the officers was excessive. “My mom has done nothing wrong. My mom did not even understand why they violently threatened her,” said David. His mother, through David as an interpreter, added to his statement.

“I’m even fearful of people because police officers are the ones I’m supposed to be able to trust.”

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that a Korean woman has sued the LAPD for the use of excessive force.

According to the LA Times, in 2013, the LAPD was sued by Kim Nguyen, another Koreatown resident, alleging that officers David Shin and Jin Oh sexually assaulted her after her arrest for public intoxication and subsequently ejected her from the moving car while she was handcuffed, seriously injuring her.

According to Nguyen’s attorney, the fall shattered her jaw and caused bleeding in her brain; she also claimed permanent psychological and emotional damage.

The resolution of Nguyen’s case remains unknown. What is known is that the LAPD receives regular complaints of biased policing – complaints which, according to the LA Times, they have completely refused to uphold.

Tensions between the LAPD and minorities have been high over the last few years.
Tensions between the LAPD and minorities have been high over the last few years. [Photo by David McNew/Getty Images]

Perhaps it is time to revisit the issue.

[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]

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