LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Nearly a year after charges were dismissed against a 20-year-old USC student who was accused of drugging and raping a fellow student in her campus dorm, the man filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles.
Armaan Karim Premjee's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges civil rights violations, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment and negligent training and supervision. Also named as defendants are LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and Detectives Oscar Gamino and Carla Zuniga.
The suit filed Tuesday seeks unspecified damages. A representative for the City Attorney's Office could not be immediately reached for comment.
In July 2017, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor dismissed a count of rape by use of drugs against Premjee after hearing evidence at a preliminary hearing. A second count of sexual penetration by a foreign object was dropped by Deputy District Attorney Lana Kim during the hearing.
The 19-year-old alleged victim, also a student, did not testify at the hearing, though a statement she gave to police was played for the court.
A video taken March 31, 2017, of her with Premjee outside of Banditos Tacos & Tequila, a popular bar and restaurant on Martin Luther King Boulevard near USC, showed her kissing Premjee ``and leading him around by the hand while he was on his cell phone,'' the suit states.
The video also showed the woman ``using a universal sign for sexual intercourse,'' the suit alleges.
Premjee and the woman both agreed to leave and have sex, which took place at her dormitory on April 1, 2017, the suit states. There was no drug use between the two while they were together that night, the suit states.
The lawsuit contends that Zuniga and Gamino suppressed evidence that would have cleared Premjee and built their case around their false theory he raped an unconscious woman.
Premjee was expelled from USC, where he was a sophomore business major, and spent thousands of dollars fighting his removal and the criminal case, the suit states.
``Mr. Premjee will forever be labeled a rapist, his reputation is destroyed (and) his professional life and ability to secure employment in the future are impacted,'' according to the lawsuit.
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