The man who was
wrongly accused of beating up Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium last year said his
arrest was the result of "reckless disregard" for the facts.
He has filed suit,
seeking damages from Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and the Los Angeles
Police Department for defamation.
Giovanni Ramirez
contends that Beck's comments at a May 22, 2011, news conference did his
reputation untold harm.
"With
reckless disregard for the truth," the suit states, Beck called Ramirez
the "primary aggressor" and "a thug," and when asked how
sure he was that Ramirez was the culprit replied: "I wouldn't be standing
here in front of you. I certainly wouldn't be booking him later on
tonight."
When two other men
were later arrested in connection with the attack on Stow, Beck would describe
Ramirez's arrest as "regrettable."
Stow was brutally
attacked in the Dodger Stadium parking lot after the home opener in March 2011
and left with brain damage. A paramedic and father of two, he continues to
undergo intensive therapy.
Ramirez alleges
that he was arrested amid pressure from the media and the public for the
department to capture the attackers. His attorneys and family maintained he was
innocent and never attended the baseball game, but police insisted he was the
suspect. Though he was never charged, he was held on a parole violation for
possession of a gun by a felon and sent back to prison for 10 months.
According to the
lawsuit, Beck's actions were "false, defamatory, outrageous and published
with willful or callous disregard for Ramirez's rights," and designed to
injure his reputation. The suit alleges that as late as June 12, 2011, Beck
insisted the LAPD had the right man.
Beck, however, was
forced in July 2011 to admit his department arrested the wrong man after the
elite Robbery Homicide Division took over the case and arrested Louie Sanchez
and Marvin Norwood.
Ramirez's suit
seeks unspecified damages for defamation.