In California, the bicycle helmet law requires anyone less than 18 years of age to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle on a street, public bicycle path or trail, or bikeway. The law applies to children who are in restraining seats as well as those being transported in a trailer behind a bicycle.
According to the father, as he was riding his bicycle to the grocery store with his 10-month-old son in a baby carrier, he was approached by two police officers who nearly collided with them. When the officers asked him why his baby wasn’t wearing a bicycle helmet, he replied that he was unfamiliar with a baby helmet law, and requested an explanation. At that point, it is alleged that one of the officers said that he didn’t need to explain anything, whereupon the exchange took a turn for the worse.
The officers switched on their flashing lights, exited their vehicle, grabbed the father’s wrists, and informed him that he was going to be arrested and that Child Protective Services (CPS) was going to take his son. The complaint goes on to say that the officers never asked the father to lift the baby out of the carrier, and never inquired if there was another parent in the neighborhood who could take the baby.
Then, the situation became violent as many other officers took the father to the ground, where another officer choked him to the point at which he lost consciousness. Although he eventually regained consciousness, the father claims he was choked two more times as two officers took turns cutting the crying baby out of his carrier in lieu of unsnapping the carrier and lifting the baby out.
The officers then placed handcuffs on the father, and placed a hobble around his legs, while he implored them to call his wife, who was just one block from their location. Two hours later, Family and Children’s Service called his wife, and said that he was drunk and hit a police car while riding his bicycle. The father said that the agency decided that the child neglect complaint was baseless.
As a result of this ordeal, the father suffered injuries to his neck and hand, and spent the night in jail, though he was not charged with any crime. He described his arrest as cruel and without justification, and that the aggressive removal of his son has caused him to suffer anxiety and emotional distress.
He and his wife have filed a lawsuit against the police officers as well as the city and county of San Francisco, and are seeking punitive damages for violations of their constitutional rights, assault and battery, negligence, false imprisonment, and violation of the Ralph Civil Rights Act and the Bane Civil Rights Act.
Under California Civil Code §51.7, the Ralph Civil Rights Act (hate violence) prohibits violence or threats of violence based on an individual’s race, color, religion, ancestry, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, political affiliation, or position in a labor dispute.
Under California Civil Code §52.1, the Bane Act provides protection from interference by threats, intimidation, or coercion or for attempts to interfere with someone’s state or federal statutory or constitutional rights (these include association, assembly, due process, education, employment, equal protection, expression, formation and enforcement of contracts, holding of public office, housing, privacy, speech, travel, use of public facilities, voting, worship, and protection from bodily restraint or harm, from personal insult, from defamation, and from injury to personal relations).
The treatment that this father endured was especially harsh given that he committed a seemingly minor violation of failing to place a helmet on his baby while riding his bicycle. Not only was he emotionally damaged as a result of the forceful arrest and removal of his child, but imagine the effect on the baby upon seeing his father choked and handled in such a violent manner. Hopefully, they will prevail in their lawsuit, and obtain the damages they are seeking.