The La Cañada bank executive who alleges that Los Angeles Police Department officers brutally beat him last spring has officially filed a claim seeking $50 million in damages from the department.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Brian Mulligan, Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Media and Telecommunications for Deutsche Bank, alleges that LAPD officers in Highland Park mistook him for a car thief, held him at the Highland Hotel against his will for several hours and then beat him when he attempted to leave.
Images released by KTLA show Mulligan's face swollen and lined with stitches following his encounter with LAPD. Mulligan claims he still suffers as a result of the beating, listing ailments from damaged nasal passages to post-traumatic stress, according to the LA Times.
Mulligan's attorney, J. Michael Flanagan, and the Los Angeles Police Department have provided two drastically different accounts of the May 15 incident.
, a spokesman for LAPD, said officers first encountered Mulligan at around 10:30 p.m. at the Jack in the Box on 4470 Eagle Rock Blvd., where he was allegedly attempting to break into motor vehicles.
According to Neiman, officers administered a field sobriety test to Mulligan, which he passed, and then took him to the Highland Hotel to rest because he reported that he was suffering from exhaustion.
Though Mulligan passed the field sobriety test, police noted in the incident report the the bank executive admitted ingesting marijuana and bath salts prior to the incident, according to CBS Local.
According to Neiman, officers encountered Mulligan again about two hours later near the intersection of Lincoln and Eagle Rock Boulevards, where he was allegedly acting erratically. When officers attempted to approach him, Neiman says he took a defensive posture, baring his teeth and baring his fingers like claws.
"In controlling him, categorical use of force was employed," Neiman told Patch.
Flanagan, speaking to the L.A. Daily News, accused LAPD of fabricating stories about Mulligan's behavior on the night of the incident to justify their brutal treatment.
"I think their actions were excessive," Mulligan's attorney, J. Michael Flanagan, told the L.A. Daily News. "I don't know why they did what they did, but as soon as we file a lawsuit, we can get depositions and find out what they did."
