Long Beach Police Caught on Video Stomping Handcuffed Black Man, Destroying Cameras During Pot Raid

From [HERE] and [HERE] A raid on a marijuana dispensary in Long Beach was caught on video showing police officers smashing surveillance cameras and stepping on a suspect, moves that prompted accusations against the officers of excessive force. A black volunteer at the collective can be seen in the video below with his neck stomped on by one of the officers who raided the facility.

The video was posted to YouTube by user "Long Beach Raids" on July 1. The two-minute-long video opens to show a man surrendering to police, three of whom surround him while two put him in handcuffs. One of the officers is seen stepping on volunteer employee Dorian Brooks' back with both feet before stepping on his neck, with what Brooks described as 300 pounds of pressure.  Brooks, “told NBC Los Angeles that the amount of force used to arrest him was excessive and out-of-proportion considering the crime.” "They noticed there was a camera that was on the wall right above my head, so they proceeded to smash it with a metal rod," said Brooks, adding that the camera shattered on him. "I wasn't able to protect myeslf because my hands were cuffed." "I felt violated; I felt disrespected," Brooks said. 

He filed a claim seeking $1 million in damages from the city of Long Beach. The papers, which were filed July 5th, state that the raid was illegal and allege that the officers involved used excessive force. According to a report by the Huffington Post, employees of the dispensary are claiming $10,000 in damage and destruction of evidence in addition to allegations of police brutality.

The THC Downtown Collective was raided for not having a city permit although it was in compliance with state regulations. During the raid, police removed the shop’s ATM as well as its cannabis.

The video cuts again and reopens on a man donning a tshirt and backwards baseball cap with what appears to be a badge hanging from his neck. This man, apparently behind the dispensary’s counter, also smashes the recording camera. Footage from after the raid shows a disheveled room, with portions of the ceiling removed and scattered on the floor, strew with boxes, electrical cables and other objects.

Dispensary employees claim the raid caused tens of thousands of damage, and police took the collective's ATM and cannabis. Long Beach City Attorney Robert E. Shannon said that the Long Beach Police Department is also mulling whether to open a criminal investigation into the activities of the medical marijuana dispensary and police are considering an internal investigation into the officers’ conduct during the raid, Shannon said.

The claim, filed Thursday with the Long Beach City Clerk’s office, alleges officers injured a volunteer employee, violated his civil rights, and violated the state’s disabled persons act.

It also alleges officers "engaged in conduct that violated various provisions of the state and federal constitutions," the claim alleges.

Raids on legal dispensaries are happening all over California. G3 Holistic’s in Upland, California has been raided twice in four months. The DEA entered one morning earlier this year and proceeded to confiscate 25 lbs of marijuana as well as 89 lbs of edible products. The owner, Aaron Sandusky, had previously helped a group of other business owners in the town secure a federal grand jury’s indictment of Upland city officials back in 2011 for shaking down businesses for bribes in exchange for city services. This included former Mayor John Pomierski, who attempted to gain $20,000 dollars in what was termed a “tolling agreement.”

In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 215 – The Compassionate Use Act, yet businesses that provide cannabis to patients are being raided and shut down sixteen years after this law was passed. As reported in October of 2011, the DOJ has decided to target landlords and property owners who rent buildings or land where dispensaries sell or cultivators grow marijuana, which is the exact opposite of what our current President promised about not “using Justice Department Resources to circumvent state laws.”