Facts

In September 2009, two Los Angeles Police Department officers confronted Valerie Allen, 37, who suffered from bipolar disorder. Allen had fallen into a manic episode and was wandering city streets for hours throughout the night. After a passerby saw Allen wearing only a shirt and talking incoherently, he flagged down Officer Brent Houlihan and his partner, Nam Phan. When the officers pulled up next to Allen, she banged on the passenger side window before running away.

Eventually the officers cornered her in a narrow walkway. The training officer claimed that he told the trainee to tase her. The trainee said he never heard "tase" and instead he heard the trainer say to grab her. The trainee moved in while the lady walked toward him. The officers claimed she picked up a construction stake and hit the trainee on the arm and was moving in "to finish him off" when the trainer stepped in and shot her three times. After she was shot, she was tased for resisting arrest.

Allen filed suit, asserting that the officers had been negligent and used excessive force. Allen argued that the officers' assertion that Allen resisted arrest after being shot was untrue. Medical experts testified during trial that the gunshot wound to her arm would have made that impossible.

Result

The jury found that Houlihan's and Bezak's actions were malicious, and found that the officers had been negligent and used excessive force. The jury awarded Allen $3.2 million: $3,000,000 in pain and suffering and $200,000 in economic damages.

Deliberation

three days

Poll

8-0 (unanimous)

Length

five days