LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A mother and her adult daughter are suing the city of Pasadena and two police officers for allegedly sexually assaulting them during a traffic stop, an attorney announced today.
A Pasadena Police Department spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles federal court in April. According to the complaint, which seeks at least $25 million in damages, the officers allegedly violated the civil rights of the women, who were 41 and 20 years old at the time of the alleged May 2, 2016, assault.
The lawsuit contends the women were stopped by police around 3:25 p.m. that day near the intersection of Altadena Drive and Foothill Boulevard. The women contend the officers physically searched them without probable cause or justification, with one of the male officers ``using his bare hands to rub between (the) legs,'' in the areas of the ``crotch'' and ``buttocks'' and inside the pants of the daughter, according to the lawsuit.
The suit alleges that one of the officers forced the mother to lift her shirt and ``expose her breasts'' in public view. Even though the mother immediately drove to the Pasadena Police Department after the stop to lodge a complaint, the police department failed to seriously investigate their claims and refused to take any disciplinary action against the officers, the lawsuit alleges.
``We're living in the age of the `Me Too' movement and people have to be held accountable for their actions, including police officers,'' said Dakar Diourbel, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. ``It's time for the sexual assaults and violence committed against women to stop, once and for all.''