Los Angeles County Judge David Cunningham III, who is also a former Los Angeles Police Commission president, is suing UCLA police for using excessive force during a seatbelt stop.
According to Cunningham, he was stopped over the weekend because, as the police put it, he only began to buckle his seat belt when he saw the cruiser, Gawker reports.
When Cunningham went to get his registration and license from the glove compartment, an officer yelled at him not to move, according to his official complaint. A prescription pill bottle, which the judge said is for high blood pressure, rolled out of the glove compartment, at which point the officer asked the judge if he was carrying drugs, Gawker notes.
Cunningham, still unable to find the paperwork, got out of the car to see if it was in his trunk. That’s when, he says, he was shoved against the car and told that he was being arrested for resisting, according to Gawker. He was then locked in the backseat.
Cunningham’s attorney issued statements saying that the force involved in the arrest was racially motivated, Gawker reports.
Read more at Gawker.