Photo: Getty Images
A California man says he "felt like a runaway slave" when he was awoken from his sleep by officers and wrongly detained while half-naked.
The incident unfolded last week after Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies entered the home of longtime Compton resident Derrick Cooper at around 4 a.m. and detained him at gunpoint, per KTLA.
Cooper said he felt "humiliated" and "violated" as he was forced out of his home naked from the waist down.
“[I asked] ‘Can I at least put on some underwear or a towel, or something to cover myself,’ and they said no,” Cooper said.
Cooper's legal team said there were no warrants or complaints against him. They believe deputies had the wrong address.
Cooper, a community leader in Compton, alleged that he sat half-naked in the back of a police car for 20 minutes before deputies apologized and released him.
“I felt like a runaway slave, and this is no drama,” he said.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that they were responding to a burglary in the area and once they determined Cooper wasn't a suspect, they released him.
On Friday (April 21), Cooper's legal team announced that they are taking steps toward filing a lawsuit against the sheriff's department.
“The intentional infliction of emotional distress, the emotional and psychological distress, and trauma that is suffered by Mr. Cooper is something that will be addressed in court,” Jaaye Pearson-Lynn, Cooper's attorney, said.
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